Little Black Sheep
by ProudToBeALefty
Summary: "Give her to me." - "No, Cissy. Ted and I will take care of her." - Freya Tonks starts at Hogwarts, trying to follow in the footsteps of her popular and skilled sister. When she starts doubting her identity, everything is falling apart, leading to a series of life-changing events. How do you put your trust in the right hands when you can't trust yourself?
1. Prologue

Dear readers, I know this type of story has been written a million times, but I had one in my head for some time and I wanted to share it. I try to make it canon and as much in character as I can. Changes have been made for the purpose of the story. But please leave a review to let me know if something doesn't add up or is bothering in any way. Or just to tell me what you think. Enjoy!

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**Prologue**

_December 1981_

With a soft popping sound a woman dressed in a long black cape appeared out of nowhere in the street of a village just outside of London. With a fast pace she walked past a row of terraced houses, their gardens prepared for Christmas with trees and bushes decorated with numerous lights and ornaments. It was already dark outside and the cold December wind made the woman shiver. She suddenly she came to a halt. The light coming through the curtains of the living room window told her that she was at the right house. She opened the garden fence and walked up the short footpath that led to the front door. The ginger cat inside laying curled up on the windowsill opened its eyes for a moment. The woman took off her hood and knocked on the door. Through the opaque glass of the front door she could see a light in the hallway switched on. A few moments later a chubby man appeared and opened the door.

"Good evening, Narcissa. What a surprise."

"Where is she? I know she's here."

Without waiting for an invitation to come in the witch made her way through the hallway into the living room. An eight-year-old girl in pyjamas sat on her knees in front of the coffee table. She was drawing a detailed picture of a mother and baby unicorn with all kinds of coloured pencils scattered on the table. She looked at her mother who was sitting on the couch behind her, holding a sleeping baby wrapped in a pale green blanket.

"Narcissa? What are you doing here?"

"Give her to me."

"No, Cissy. Ted and I will take care of her."

"She is supposed to be mine." Narcissa walked a few steps closer and drew her wand. The little pink haired girl came to her feet and cuddled up against her mother on the couch.

"I'm her sister too, Cissy. Whatever she thinks of me. The Aurors did nothing wrong bringing her child here," Andromeda said. "And please go, you're scaring Nymphadora."

"Dora. Bedtime. Go brush your teeth." Ted spoke, standing in the doorway.

Nymphadora kissed her mother goodnight, then gently caressed the baby's cheek and gave her a little kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight little one," she whispered. She got up and walked in a big curve around Narcissa. She kept her eyes fixed on her aunt nervously, almost walking into the Christmas tree.

"They did wrong by Bella," Narcissa continued when the girl had disappeared in the hallway. She lowered her wand. Trying to intimidate her sister wasn't going to be successful, it never had been. "She never would've let you touch her."

"Bella will be in Azkaban for the rest of her life. She won't know. A child shouldn't be blamed for her mother's faults. She shouldn't be burdened with that family name."

"Did you even know she had been born before today? I'm the one who has been taking care of her."

"And after their arrest? They found the girl home alone."

"That's not a reason to dismiss me as her gardian."

"Do you think they would have given her to you and your husband? To be raised by another Death Eater?"

"How dare you!" Narcissa turned red. "Lucius is not a Death Eater!" Her yelling woke up the sleeping baby, who started crying and stretched her little arms into the air. "The war is over, the Dark Lord is gone and there is no proof at all that Lucius did anything for him of his own free will!"

"It doesn't matter, Cissy. We'll care for her and love her as much as you would, I swear." Andromeda rocked the bundle back and forth a little bit and the crying turned into soft murmuring. "You already have a little one yourself and you don't think Lucius would treat Bellatrix's daughter like one of his own, do you? He is too proud of his own name to call her a Malfoy."

Narcissa knew Andromeda was right. Lucius and Bellatrix had never gotten along. He had always envied her status, her place in the ranks of the Dark Lord. He probably wouldn't be able to hide his feelings towards the girl while raising her together with his own son. Lucius hadn't been happy with Narcissa visiting the Lestranges regularly since Bellatrix had given birth. But the help her oldest sister desperately needed to take care of her baby, she had often waved away. "We have House-elves for a reason," Bellatrix had said. "Right now I have more important things to do than caring for a baby." Narcissa felt she had been the only mother figure to the little girl. No love, no attention, not even a name. So she did it herself. Leaving her with others now felt like giving up her own child.

Narcissa finally tucked away her wand and nodded. "Her name is Freya. Can I hold her one more time?"

"Freya." Andromeda repeated as she got up from the couch and carefully handed the little bundle over to her younger sister.

"She looks so innocent." Narcissa watched the sleeping baby in her arms. "It breaks my heart to think that people would not give up their own life for such a little wonder. If only she knew what her parents left her for."

"She must never know. Keep this quiet, Cissy. Bellatrix's daughter is gone."

Narcissa nodded again. If the Lestranges cared so little for their child to leave her with only their house elves, she wondered how many of their allies would even know Freya was born, let alone go looking for her. No one would ever know or care she failed in retrieving the child and raise her with pure-blood views.

"She is gone."

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Ted opened the door to his daughter's bedroom a chink and peeked inside. Nymphadora was still awake, reading by the light of her bedside lamp. She put her book down when he entered, then lay down and disappeared under her duvet, only her head sticking out.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Again?" He sat on the side of her bed. "Are you okay, Dora?"

Nymphadora nodded.

"Do you know who that lady was?"

"Aunt Narcissa. Mum said they never speak to each other because she's a nasty mean woman."

"Something like that," Ted said. Andromeda rarely spoke of her family, but when she did, she could be rather blunt, he thought. Too much in front of their daughter.

"Why did she want the baby? It isn't hers, is it?"

"Their other sister. But not anymore. She is our baby from now on. So you will protect her, right? As a big sister?"

Nymphadora nodded fervently.

"Never mention her birth parents to anyone, okay? Just pretend your mum and I are. I know you can do that for her."

"I promise. And I won't be scared anymore, dad, I can fight them. Once I have a wand and do magic. I will protect her."

"You'll do a great job, sweetheart." He said as he ruffled her pink hair. "And clean your room tomorrow, okay?" He said, looking around at the mess in her room.

"Ugh, why do I always have to do that? It's not fair I can't use magic yet." Nymphadora yawned and turned off the light on the night stand. "I can't wait to get to Hogwarts. No parents around to tell you to clean your room all the time."

"Only three more years," Ted said. "And it doesn't hurt to get some chores done with actual work sometimes. Household spells are not my best anyway."

"I guess," Nympadora yawned and snuggled deeper under the duvet. "Good night, dad. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetheart."

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Thank you very much for reading, I hope you liked it. Leave a comment if you wish, I'm always happy to get some feedback.


	2. The Sorting Hat

Thank you to everyone that started following the story. I'll try my best to upload a new chapter every week. Enjoy the next chapter!

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_September 1st, 1992_

"I'll miss you, Freya." Nymphadora pulled her sister in a tight hug, turning her nose into an elephant's trunk and wrapping it around her sister's neck. Freya giggled as people on the platform turned their heads at the strange sight. "Christmas is way too long to wait. I should sneak into Hogwarts so we can pull a trick on Filch together. I never thought I'd miss him."

"Don't put any thoughts like that into her head, Nymphadora," Andromeda said. "You have given me enough trouble as it is."

"Don't call me Nymphadora."

Freya smiled. She loved her sister and really looked up to her. How proud she was when she was taken on as an Auror-in-training shortly after her graduation from Hogwarts. She only hoped she would turn out to be as half as good a witch.

"I'll write you whenever I can, Dora."

"Well hurry up now." Her mother gave her the hundredth quick kiss of the day and pushed her towards the train door. The platform was getting less crowded by the second as most students had boarded the Hogwarts express with their luggage already.

"Bye mum, bye Dora. Give a kiss to dad from me." She walked up the steps and closed the train door. Through the window she waved one more time and then walked along the corridor to find a place to sit.

She passed a lot of compartments already filled with a few students each. If only she could find an empty one. She wanted to make friends of course, but it would be kind of awkward to have to sit with a group of older students the whole journey. Too bad she didn't know anyone who was also new this year. As she walked further down the train she noticed a group of boys ahead, coming their way towards her, probably looking for the same empty compartment. Freya pressed herself against one side of the train corridor to make space for them, but the boy in front came to a halt as he reached her.

"Well, who do we have here? Freya Tonks. My mother told me you were starting this year."

"Draco," Freya said, assuming it was him, noticing the distinct blond hair of the Malfoys. Dora had told her enough about the family to want to avoid their son. She tried to pass him, but he stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

"One of the cast out Tonkses. Probably a Hufflepuff like your daft sister. I bet your traitor mother regrets ever marrying that mudblood father of yours. Having children like this." He looked her up and down while his mockery was followed by the sneering of the boys behind him.

"Who wants to be family with you anyway?" Freya said. What a prick.

"I must say, I admire your guts to even show up here, given the fact you can't sink any lower." Draco then knocked her to the side and made his way further down the train, followed closely by his gang.

Freya made a mental note to ignore him the rest of her time at Hogwarts. At least he was a year above her so she wouldn't have any classes with him. In the next coach she found a compartment to her liking. It was empty but for one girl with long blond hair and funny looking earrings who was reading a magazine. Freya entered and asked for permission to take a seat.

"Of course," the girl said. "Are you also a first-year?"

Freya nodded and took the seat opposite her. "I'm Freya Tonks. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Luna," she said, putting her magazine down.

"I like your earrings." Freya said, in the first place to start a conversation, but her remark was truthfully. "It reminds me of my sister Dora. She's a metamorphmagus. She always wears her hair in different colours. I think she'd love them.

"Oh, thank you, Freya. Is your sister at Hogwarts as well?"

"She graduated a year ago. But it's nice to hear her stories about teachers and stuff. Kind of like I've been here already. But I'm still very nervous," Freya said. She had felt butterflies in her stomach as soon as the train started moving. She was really going to Hogwarts today. "You seem kind of relaxed though."

"I think it not worth my time to stress over anything. I don't like being stressed, so I'm not. We'll see how it goes," Luna said in a dreamy voice. She looked up to the ceiling of the compartment and Freya followed her gaze, but nothing special seemed to be there.

Then suddenly Luna spoke again. "Any idea on which house you'd like to be in?"

"I hope I'm a Hufflepuff like Dora. I just want to have a good time. I think I'd like it in Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff sounds nice, but I'll probably end up in Ravenclaw like most in my family. I think it fits me perfectly."

"My family's house is Slytherin, on my mother's side, but they cut ties with her when she married my muggle-born dad, so I guess that's not a likely option. But like you said, we'll see. Any house would be okay I guess."

They stayed quiet for a while, their comfortable silence breached by an old witch with a trolley full of sweets. They shared some cauldron cakes and read aloud a couple of funny facts on the chocolate frog cards about Newt Scamander and some goblin called Urg the Unclean. After a while Luna got back to reading her magazine and Freya stared out of the window again. Hundreds of meadows slid by, the landscape slowly changing. Hills turned into mountains as they neared the Scottish Highlands. It was already getting dark outside when Luna spoke.

"We'd better get dressed. It's not long now."

Soon after they changed into their new black robes the train slowed down and eventually came to a stop at a little station in Hogsmeade village. The first-years were called together by Hagrid the groundskeeper, and he was the biggest man Freya had ever seen. He took them to a couple of boats to cross the lake to Hogwarts castle located at the opposite side. The entire way to the castle Freya couldn't stop smiling. This journey alone was even better than she could have ever imagined from what Dora told her. Last year they had grown closer than ever. Freya had been just three years old when Dora started at Hogwarts and they had spent only the summer and Christmas holidays together. Until last year, after Dora graduated and they both had been living at home for the first time Freya could remember.

Her Hogwarts stories were favourite, until Dora got accepted at Auror training and told her about the exciting things she had learnt there. It made Freya even more anxious to learn magic. And now she was here, in a boat on the lake with the other first years, watching the castle loom in front of her. Here she would learn everything she needed to get as good as Dora. Maybe become an Auror herself eventually. She too wanted to do something that would make a difference. And it would all start here.

When the new students reached the entrance of the castle they were greeted by professor McGonagall, who made a short comment on the sorting ceremony and the four houses one could be sorted in. Then she led them through the Great Hall where they passed all students sitting at their house tables. In front of all teachers and staff at the High Table stood a stool with the old Sorting Hat. McGonagall unrolled a scroll of parchment and called the first student to come forward.

It was a small boy called Oliver Barlow, with brown hair and big ears sticking out. After a minute or so, the Hat appointed him a Ravenclaw. The students at the Ravenclaw table cheered and the boy walked over them to join his new fellow house members.

Then Colin Creevy was called forward, one of the boys Freya and Luna had shared a boat with on the lake. He had been taking pictures of the castle the whole way, and Freya could have sworn she saw him take a few sneaky ones of Luna.

"Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindors all clapped for him until McGonagall cleared her throat and called the next name. About half of the students were sorted when Luna was indeed sorted into Ravenclaw. Freya felt happy for her as she saw her skipping to the Ravenclaw table, taking a seat beside Oliver Barlow and shaking his hand.

There were only a few students left when McGonagall called her name. "Tonks, Freya!"

McGonagall held up the hat and looked among the leftover students who hadn't been sorted yet. Her eyes met Freya's when she stepped forward. With shaking knees she walked up the few steps to the stool. She reassured herself there was nothing to be nervous about, that she had to trust the hat to make a right decision for her. But maybe having a few hundred pairs of eyes upon her was making her heart race. She sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on top of her head.

_Alright, hmm._ Freya heard a low murmuring voice inside her head. _I see a sense of loyalty. You value honesty. Hufflepuff perhaps. Family means a great deal to you, you want them close. A desire to be noticed and liked, but maybe a danger to lose yourself in your attempts to fit in._

Anywhere I feel I belong, Freya thought, having a hard time not thinking about Hufflepuff. Just put me where I'll be happy.

_It looks like you're open-minded. Or is it naivety? I wonder… I see a slight preference for Hufflepuff. Hmm no, that won't be the right house. You might go unnoticed there. That won't make you happy, trust me. So where will you grow? I'm sure seeing things from another perspective will bring out so much more in you. Where you belong, hmm? Then aligned with your family, it must be…_

"Slytherin!" The Sorting Hat called out.

Slytherin? That could not be right. She felt the Sorting Hat taken from her head by McGonagall. Freya looked up at her and McGonagall narrowed her eyes in return. Did she notice she had not expected this? Freya got up slowly and walked to the cheering Slytherin table. Why Slytherin? It was definitely another perspective.

As she sat down on the bench she saw Draco a couple of seats away across the table, glaring at her. He said something to the students next to him. They were the same ones who were with him on the Hogwarts Express. She couldn't hear it, but they all looked at her angrily thereafter.

"Hello," said a voice nearby. It was the girl sitting to her right at the table. She had straight brown hair in a long ponytail. Freya had seen her among the first years. "I'm Juliette Flint, or Julie, who are you?"

"Freya Tonks."

"Tonks?"Julie looked thoughtful for a moment. "Never heard of that name before."

"My dad was a muggle-born, it's not a very common name amongst wizards."

"Muggle-born? Interesting choice from the Sorting Hat."

"I know, I thought I was going to be sorted in Hufflepuff. In my mum's family they are almost all Slytherins though."

"Oh well, sometimes that's just it. My brother Marcus is in Slytherin too, probably because he's a Flint." She clapped as another newly sorted Slytherin came to join them at the table. Then she whispered with a smile: "To be honest, I can't name any trait that would make him fit better in any other house."

Somehow her remark didn't make Freya feel any better. It mostly disturbed her she thought she would be happy with any house, but apparently not so. Was a genetic bond with a pure blood family more important than personal traits? It hadn't been for Dora. Maybe she just didn't have any distinct qualities, like Julie thought of her brother.

With Ginny Weasley being sorted in Gryffindor the Sorting Ceremony was over. After a short speech from the Headmaster to wish everyone good luck with the coming year, the table filled with an enormous amount of food. The sight of it made Freya realise how hungry she was and the smell of the dishes overpowered her confusing thoughts on the Sorting Hat's decision.

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Thank you all for reading! Hope you liked it.


	3. A Letter to Dora

Hello again. Back with a new chapter, enjoy!

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Freya was sitting at a desk in the Slytherin dormitory. She stared at an empty piece of parchment, while her tawny owl Melvin sat next to her on the desk, cleaning its feathers. She had a free period after lunchtime in which she always planned - and usually failed - to catch up on her homework. But her mind was elsewhere at this moment. She had written the first letter to Dora weeks ago, telling her about her first classes. How she liked Charms and flying lessons. And how Defence against the Dark Arts classes she had looked forward to were a big disappointment, due to their incompetent teacher Lockhart. How professor Snape was indeed a grumpy old stinker, even snappy against some Slytherins. About how Harry Potter flew a car to Hogwarts with his friend Ron and the embarrassing Howler he got the next morning. She had laughed heartily about it with her new friend Julie she had met at the Sorting ceremony.

Freya had told Dora she was surprised with the Hat's decision but okay with being a Slytherin. Though she wasn't sure she was really okay with it. Maybe she really was just too lazy and dumb to be sorted anywhere else. Didn't the Sorting Hat say she wanted to be noticed and liked? Not that she wanted to be as popular in school as Dora had been, but when it came to popularity, Slytherins were at the other end of the spectrum. Especially now, after only a week at Hogwarts and the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. Being a Slytherin was bad reputation. With all these other developments Freya wanted Dora to hear about, she decided she couldn't keep her sister from her own thoughts anymore. They had always been very open about everything with each other. Why was now any different?

_November 10__th__, 1992_

_Dearest Dora,_

_Thanks for your letter and congratulations on passing your tests. So proud! At Hogwarts things are not so great. It's mostly the Chamber of Secrets. It really must have been opened by the heir of Slytherin, whoever that may be. At first we thought it was a stupid joke, as I wrote earlier, but now a student has been petrified. Everyone can see the teachers are scared. There are rumours that Hogwarts will be closed. Mrs Norris has been petrified too. Filch is heartbroken and I actually feel bad for him, can you imagine?_

_Professor Binns told us about the legend of the Chamber and how Salazar Slytherin was fiercely against Muggleborns. So maybe it's because of the heir of Slytherin now, but I feel it's like Slytherin against the rest of Hogwarts. How was that like when you were here? Al lot of students are nasty to us without any reason. Or scared. Well, their loss. Shouldn't let it bother me really. Slytherins are really nice people, although Draco is trying to set me up against his pureblood friends. Luckily Julie thinks he's a nitwit too._

_I can't wait to see you on Christmas. If we're not going to be sent home earlier. I hope they solve it quickly. Kisses to mum and dad._

_Love, Freya_

She folded her letter and put it in her pocket. She let Melvin hop on her shoulder and stroked its feathers. "At least you like me." She went upstairs to ground level where she took the letter and tied it around Melvin's claw with a piece of string. Melvin spread his brown wings, which made him look five times bigger and flew out of the window. Freya hadn't gotten comfortable with the dark common room in the dungeons yet. It was probably more spacious than the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor towers, but at least a tower had windows.

She took the shortest route to the library, one of the places she really liked to be. It was big, with story-high shelves full of books. And it was relatively quiet, compared to anywhere else in the castle. The only thing you could hear were soft footsteps and whispers of students and the occasionally turning of a page. She saw a Gryffindor girl sitting at one of the long tables, surrounded by a couple of big, worn out books. She just put one away on the pile and it caught her attention. _Hogwarts: a History_.

"Can I borrow that one?" She asked.

The girl looked up and wiped a brown curl out of her face. "Yes, of course. If you're looking for the part on the Chamber of Secrets, like everyone else, it's on page 785. But it's not much useful information."

"Really? Does everybody want to read it?" Freya sat down at the table, opposite the girl who took another book from the pile and flipped through the pages.

"Yeah, luckily I found a copy of it finally, the last one they had," said the girl. "I heard Madame Pince say she's gotten more requests than ever for entering the restricted section. She not letting anyone in of course."

"Thanks." Freya slid the _Hogwarts: a History_ towards her and opened it. "You're Hermione Granger right? Harry Potter's friend?"

"Yes."

"Aren't you afraid something might happen to you? Since, you know…" she paused for a second. "You're a muggleborn?"

"Not really, at least not yet, that's why I'm reading about it. It makes me feel more prepared. Why are you asking?" She looked at Freya's Slytherin robes and narrowed her eyes. "Do you know anything about the heir of Slytherin?"

"No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, just curious." Nice Freya, she thought. You find this one person that isn't immediately wary of your green tie. She didn't think it was a threat, did she?

Hermione shrugged. "Oh well, that's alright. At least you're not calling me a Mudblood."

Draco could be a real dick sometimes, Freya thought. Calling somebody a Mudblood was incredibly rude. "I heard Draco called you that. I'm Freya Tonks, he's my cousin you know, stupid brat."

"Really? I'm sorry you are his cousin then." She made a face as if she had just eaten something bad. Just as she bowed her head again to continue reading the page, she looked up again at someone Freya couldn't see.

"Hi Harry," Hermione said.

Freya looked over her shoulder. Awesome. She hadn't met Harry before, but everyone knew him and he wasn't a favourite student amongst her fellow Slytherins. From what she heard in the common room, he had one of the most intolerant and judgemental attitudes against Slytherin.

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a moment?" Harry glared at Freya, frowning. "In private?"

How not surprising. Imagine talking to a Slytherin. Treachery! Freya rolled her eyes. She'd better go. No point in staying or trying to be nice to him.

"Well, I must be going anyway, I have some other things to do. Petrifying people and stuff." Freya said, making a theatrical arm gesture in the air. She put _Hogwarts: a History _back on the pile of books beside Hermione.

"You can take it if you want, I don't need it anymore." Hermione showed a glimpse of a smile which made Harry look even more sullen.

"Oh it's alright." Freya said. "I've got to go to class anyway." She waved a hand, ignored Harry, and walked past them.

"Why are you letting her know we're interested in the Chamber of Secrets, Hermoine?" She heard him talk as she walked away. She slipped behind a bookcase within hearing distance for a moment. "She's a Slytherin."

"Not everyone is like Malfoy, Harry, don't be so mean," Hermione replied. "She doesn't even like Draco so they won't tell each other anything. Besides, everyone is curious."

"We can't trust her. She's a Slytherin, enough said."

Freya walked away after that, she didn't need to hear any more insults from that boy. She went down to the dungeons again to meet up with Julie and get her cape, it was time to get to class and it would be cold outside flying in the wind. This afternoon they had their last flying lesson before the Christmas Holidays. She loved to fly. She thought about participating in the try-outs for the Slytherin Quidditch Team next year. Though probably hopeless if Marcus Flint would still be there as their Captain. If he could get bribed with new broomsticks to let Draco play for the team, he would indeed have sawdust for a brain and think girls wouldn't be capable at Quidditch at all. At least there was one thing that Gryffindor seemed to be better at.

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At last their double potions class had ended. It felt like an eternity on Fridays at the end of the day. The first students were already making their way out when Freya was still packing up her things. Today everything took long for some reason. She hadn't been able to finish her Forgetfulness Potion completely, though it was a relatively easy potion to make. She was about to leave when she heard a cold voice behind her.

"A word, Miss Tonks."

Great. Professor Snape. She pressed her lips together and turned around to face him.

"You are failing to pay attention in class. I don't like to take away house points from Slytherin."

"I have a lot on my mind, that's all." Freya threw her bag on her shoulder to leave.

"Unfortunately nothing that concerns school work, I believe," Snape said.

"We're just worried about Colin Creevy, Professor. Especially Ginny, she seems so off. And Luna…"

"They are not my concern, Miss Tonks. You, on the other hand, are a Slytherin. It's my job to inquire about your wellbeing and make sure your grades are up to standard." He paused for a second and stared at her. "And they are not."

"We're all struggling, Professor." She looked at Julie standing in the doorway of the potions classroom, who gestured she was going on ahead to the common room.

"If you feel you're struggling with the current events, or with anything else for that matter, you should come to me, as your Head of House."

From the way professor Snape was looking at her, she could tell he was dead serious. Whenever wasn't he serious, really? Though he was probably the last person she'd go to if she needed an adult to talk to or take some advice from. Hogwarts was just not what she had expected and looked forward to all those years. But what was he going to do about it? Besides, her school work was not that bad.

"Uh," she stammered. "Well, thanks. I'll take that into account."

"May I remind you that although it's almost Christmas, this is no time for fooling around. You may do well studying compulsory textbooks instead of unravelling the history of Salazar Slytherin, however intriguing he and his mysterious heir might be. It's not up to students to try and solve this."

Professor Snape's eyes seemed to pierce through her and she knew she wasn't going to get off easily. But what could she say? She really was worried about Colin and Ginny.

"I'm not trying to solve it. I'm not that haughty and not that determined."

"You seem determined enough to fail potions this year, Miss Tonks."

"I'm not even on a failing grade and it's only December," Freya said.

"Your potion today was truly dreadful. If you wish to attend that Duelling Club meeting this week I suggest you put your talents into something more useful. I thought you aspired to become an Auror like your sister."

Right, now he talked about talents. Although Duelling Club was something she really looked forward to, she could not miss that.

"I feel forced to give you some extra homework if I catch you slacking in my class once more. Now dismissed."

She left the classroom and walked the corridor back to the Slytherin common room. What was that all about? She was so deep in thought she nearly missed the spot on the bare stone wall where the entrance was.

"Snake skin," she said.

A door appeared and opened in the stone wall, revealing the large space behind it. She scanned the room for Julie, but her friend had already spotted her in front of the entrance and waved at her. She plumped down in one of the armchairs beside her friend.

"What did Professor Snape want?" She asked when Freya sat down. "You didn't get detention or anything, did you?"

Freya shook her head. "I don't know what his problem is. I'm not doing that bad."

Julie looked uneasy.

"What?"

"Well, you kinda doze off sometimes…"

"Who doesn't in History of Magic?"

"In Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"Lockhart is only talking about himself in classes. I don't know why you like him so much. Because he gives you good grades? The only thing I've learned so far is that his favourite colour is lilac. Big deal." With a deep sigh she fell back in the big chair. She looked at Julie, who crossed her arms. "Sorry," Freya muttered. "I'm in a bad mood."

"Come on, cheer up, it's the weekend. Wanna play chess before dinner?" She got on her feet and pulled Freya out of the chair. "Gotta beat you someday."

Freya smiled and followed Julie. "Not today, you won't."

* * *

Thanks again for reading. I'm sorry if what I wrote may seem a little unconnected. I wanted to write a few introductory chapters on the new character. The events in _Chamber of Secrets_ are still the same, so the scenes I wrote in this and the next chapter are really to be inserted into the story we all know. Just to give Freya a little bit of background for her own adventure later on.


	4. Resolutions

Enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

It was Friday after Christmas. Next term started after New Year's Day so Freya was still home with her parents for a few days more before the Hogwarts Express would take her back to school again. Even Nymphadora had some free time in her tight training schedule and usually spend the weekend and Holidays at their parents' house. She just got back from London to join in for dinner, talking about what kind of advanced duelling spells she had worked on today. They were spells that Freya hadn't even heard about. Then again, she only had a wand for about four months.

"We've only had one duelling session before Christmas. But it was awesome." Freya said as she put down four sets of cutlery next to each plate before she sat down. Ted put a lasagne casserole on the dining table, while Andromeda followed with a big bowl of salad and a jug of water.

"Who's teaching then? Not Lockhart, is it?" Nymphadora made a funny face as she summoned four drinking glasses from the kitchen cabinet. "I heard he once offered to give a lecture at the Auror Office on defence techniques, but they turned him down."

Ha, Freya thought. It didn't surprise her that Lockhart was not always taken seriously. She should tell Julie that she wasn't the only one that thought Lockhart was kind of an idiot.

"It is him, actually," Freya said as everyone sat down. "With Professor Snape. I hope he still lets me attend after Christmas. He's a great dueller. Professor Lockhart is no match for him."

"Why wouldn't he let you attend?" Andromeda asked. "You haven't gotten in trouble, have you?"

"Have you?" Dora said excitedly, earning a disapproving look from Andromeda.

Ted cut the lasagne into parts and put a hot steaming piece on each of their plates. Freya helped herself to some salad.

"No, he thinks my grades aren't up to standard," she said, carefully avoiding to scoop up pieces of cucumber with the salad spoon. "But for Slytherins anything less than perfect isn't living up to his standard. But yes, I will try harder." Freya said, before her mother could speak. "I'm not going to let him dismiss me from Duelling Club. Seriously, I kicked everyone's butt last week."

It was true she had picked up quite easily on practising the Spells on her classmates. It really did her good to know she seemed to be best of her year in something for once. Nymphadora put up her hand and Freya high fived it across the table.

"That's my little sister. An Auror in the making."

"Let's not get ahead of yourself now." Andromeda took over the salad bowl from Freya. "Being an Auror requires more than being an enthusiastic first year dueller. Outstanding grades in N.E.W.T.s is what you need, and you have a long way to go from what I hear."

"She'll be fine, mum. Auror training is about dedication, handling pressure, not about school grades. Mine weren't great in my first year. It's like you're not convinced she's up to it." Dora bent over to Freya opposite her. "But I know you, Freya. If you set your mind to something you like, you'll end up there. High grades are just not it right now. You only live once. Just have a little fun first, alright."

Freya smiled. "Thanks Dor." Her sister always managed to put things into perspective for her. If only there wasn't such a big age gap between them, they would've had so much fun together at Hogwarts. Even in a different year and in a different house.

"Of course I think you can do it, darling," Andromeda lay a hand on Freya's shoulder. "I'd love for you to be an Auror, but you're still young. But I think as a first year you should focus on subjects and exams rather than those extracurricular activities. Right, dear?" Andromeda looked at her husband for back-up.

Ted in his turn shrugged and gestured to his full mouth that he couldn't speak.

"If she proves herself to be a good dueller, I still can't see why that's less important than knowing who was the leader of the Goblin Rebellion in the 19th century." Nymphadora said.

"I think you mean the 18th century?" Andromeda said and put out her hand. "Freya, pass the salt, please."

Freya handed the dispenser to her mother beside her. "Oh yeah, that's on the chocolate frog cards. I remember reading it with Luna first time on the Hogwarts Express." The first time on the Hogwarts Express seemed like a long time ago. She made a mental note to go and see Luna when she was back at Hogwarts again. It had been awhile and Luna had always been quite nice to her actually.

"Yes that is true, now you mention it." Ted swallowed the last of his bite. "Chocolate Frog Cards saved me numerous times in exams. Urg the Untidy," he said and tapped with his index finger on his head. "All the facts are still in here."

"And the chocolate still in here!" Nymphadora grinned and prodded her father's plump belly beside her.

"It's Urg the Unclean," Andromeda said sourly, the rest of them still laughing. "And the Goblin Rebellions are considered common knowledge."

"No but seriously," Nymphadora went on. "Whenever have I used that fact after graduating from Hogwarts? It's not like it's going to save my life when I'm in battle with a Death Eater. They're not going to spare me because I can throw around such useless facts."

"Dora." Ted put a hand on his daughter's arm, but she didn't take notice of it.

"Imagine the Lestranges…"

"Enough now, Nymphadora." Andromeda commanded.

"Oh," Nymphadora fell silent and looked at Freya a bit uncomfortable. "Sorry. I only meant… You don't need an O.W.L. in History of Magic in order to become an Auror."

"Alright, can we please talk about something else than school now? It's the Christmas holiday." Freya put another spoonful in her mouth. In some ways her mother and sister looked very much alike. Whatever this was about, it was just their way to argue. Whenever they discussed something they thought was important, they wouldn't back down easily. Too stubborn to acknowledge the other's perspective. Oh well, she had that too sometimes.

* * *

It was a few months later, early in May. Freya had decided, as had most students, to stay at Hogwarts during the Easter Holidays. There hadn't been any new attacks for months and everybody had high hopes that they had seen the last of it. Now it was easier to have her mind set on schoolwork again and she had tons of homework to finish before the exams in June. To her satisfaction, it had been a fruitful week of hours revising in the Library. Probably because Julie had gone home for Easter and didn't cause a distraction. Julie was still determined to defeat her in Wizards Chess once before end of year and seemed to spend almost every free minute to reach that goal, challenging her in a duel frequently. Julie's brother Marcus usually stayed at Hogwarts, using the extra free time to practise for the remaining unplayed Quidditch matches.

Today Gryffindor would be playing against Hufflepuff. Julie rather wanted to stay and catch up on homework she had left for after the Easter Holidays as it wasn't Slytherin playing the game. Freya decided to look for Ginny, a Gryffindor first year she liked. They had practiced a lot in Charms together after the attack on Colin Creevy, who used to sit next to Ginny. Ginny hadn't been in a very cheerful mood ever since, but she certainly would be cheering on the red and golden players of her house, wouldn't she. Freya herself didn't really mind who would win the house cup, but liked to see the sometimes risky dives and spectacular manoeuvres of the players. Also the ambiance of a filled stadium full of cheering spectators would be a nice way to recharge herself for another revising shift. So she walked along the tables in the Great Hall, which were already getting empty, and asked a couple of Gryffindor first-years if they had seen Ginny. Though nobody seemed to know where she had gone to.

"Hello Freya," a dreamy voice said behind her. "Are you going to the Quidditch match?"

It was Luna, who was wearing two scarves around her neck. A red and yellow scarf twisted around a yellow and black one, draped over her shoulders.

"Yeah, Julie is not coming so I was looking for Ginny, but she must already have gone down to the Quidditch Pitch," she shrugged. "But we can to go together?" She added quickly, Luna's face lighting up after she said it.

They followed the procession of students in the corridors, almost to be knocked over by Derrick, one of the Slytherin Beaters, when they stepped outside onto the castle grounds. The Slyhterin Quidditch Team was stomping by like a herd of elephants, with Malfoy on their heels.

"Does your friend know she looks like a double loser now she's wearing the two most pathetic house scarves around her neck?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course, Draco keeping his mouth shut for once was too much to ask. "So what are you going to watch for, if you don't care about either of the teams?"

"Just observing their tactics. Need to see the best way to humiliate Hufflepuff in our next match. On the other hand, they might stand a chance against Gryffindor, hard to say which team is more retarded."

Freya raised her eyebrows. "If I remember correctly, Gryffindor won the match against Slytherin because Harry Potter caught the snitch before you did."

"He caught it only because he committed a foul!" Draco called out, his face slowly turning red. "Madame Hooch didn't see him flying straight into me! And if you're such a Gryffindor fan, go and ask Loony over there if you can borrow that scarf from her," he snapped and quickly caught up with his fellow teammates. What a bad loser. Though she remembered being quite disappointed when Slytherin had lost the match. Gryffindor hadn't even scored a single goal then, but because Harry earned 150 points by catching the snitch, they won in the end. Even though Draco was part of the Quidditch team, she still liked Slytherin to win the cup, like they had done regularly in the past years. Before they could reach the stands however, they were stopped by professor McGonagall.

"The match has been cancelled, all students must return to their common rooms straight away."

* * *

_June 2nd, 1993_

_Dear Dora,_

_I'm so happy! Everything has turned out great at the end of the year. I was so frightened for Ginny when the teachers told us she got taken down there, she really nearly died from what I heard, but she's okay now and everyone is safe. All the petrified students as well because of the Professor Sprout's Mandrakes. Well except for Lockhart, he had to go to the hospital, so our Defence against the Dark Arts classes have been cancelled for the rest of the year. But that doesn't even matter because exams are cancelled too. That's what Dumbledore wanted. So he's back again and Hagrid too! I'm glad he had nothing to do with it. I'm sorry if I'm rambling on and don't make any sense, but it's just too much. Everyone is so happy, even Filch isn't scolding us the amount he normally does now he has Mrs Norris back. Maybe the only person who isn't happy is Draco, because his father has been sacked as School Governor. And of course because Harry Potter is the hero again, and he can't stand him. Says he is an arrogant attention seeker. Which I think they both are. Anyway, what do I care about any of them, I have loads more to tell you, so I can't wait to get home for the Holidays. I hope you get a lot of time off as well._

_Kisses from Freya_

Freya walked across the castle grounds to owlery to give Melvin the letter to deliver. Summer ha really begun this week. Most of the Slytherins abandoned the cool dungeons for the sunny weather outside to play Quidditch or read a book lying on the grass. She saw a group of Hufflepuff first years practising the Fire-Making Spell, the last assignment professor Flitwick had given them. Even though exams were cancelled and classes weren't as strict as usual, they still got some homework to do in the last weeks.

When Freya arrived at the owlery, she saw a person outside binding a letter to a large eagle owl and for a second she wanted to turn around when she saw it was Draco. But as soon as the owl spread its wings and took off flying he noticed her coming near.

"You've got a beautiful owl," she said. Maybe a different approach would help now he wasn't feeling that great.

"What are you trying to be nice for?" Draco sneered. "Don't think you've gotten the better of me now. I just think it's a pity no one died this time," he said.

Never mind. There was just no way of having a normal conversation with him. "How can you be so mean, Draco? Really. Like Muggleborns choose to be one. We shouldn't treat them any different."

"You should be careful with what you say, Tonks."

"Coming from your mouth that must be a threat rather than a warning." This boy was really getting on her nerves. What was that even supposed to mean?

"You bet. If what my father just told me is true, our Potter here didn't just save the Mudbloods from demise. The heir of Slytherin isn't fond of blood traitors like you, even if you're related to the Blacks."

"What do you mean? You know who the heir was?" She couldn't deny she was still intrigued and curious about it all.

"I just want to point out the importance on being on the right side of power." Draco grinned.

"Yeah, you Malfoys are on the right side, that's why your father has been sacked," Freya said scoffing. He was probably just showing off, like always.

"Shut up about my father, Tonks. But for real, you should be careful. One day he'll be back. And your lot's gonna get it then."

"If you're proud to know something I don't, well congratulations, but don't waste my time if you're not going to tell anyway." Freya turned around to enter the owlery. Though this had sounded as if he knew something more than what Dumbledore had told them in his speech at the feast last week. That it had been a memory in a cursed diary that had opened the Chamber. And the diary had been destroyed. Luckily Draco couldn't resist spilling some more. Yet it wasn't quite clear to her what he was saying.

"If our lovely auntie Bellatrix had the chance she wouldn't hesitate to kill her own sister's family for him. Or don't you even know who she is? Why am I even wasting my time on your ignorance?" He shrugged and started walking back to the castle.

Bellatrix? As in Bellatrix Lestrange? For real? It made sense though. No wonder her mother never talked about her family. Apart from the Malfoys she didn't know anything at all about them.

* * *

The morning had already came to an end when she walked with Julie down the road towards the Hogwarts Express at Hogsmeade Station, talking about their plans for the summer. It usually was a turbulent year full of new thing for first years, even without the events of this particular year. It all had gone so fast and today they would be going back home again. Julie had already set her mind on visiting each other as often as they could to continue their games of Wizards Chess during the holidays. Julie's one well-deserved victory in one of their games only seemed to have encouraged her enthusiasm. "You're not getting out of it, Freya. You will visit this summer."

"If your parents are no pureblood fanatics, it might be fun." Freya said smiling. "Don't want to embarrass you in front of them because you brought a traitor home."

"They're not Death Eaters, Freya." Julie pounded her on the arm with her fist, feigning being offended. "I think you're the closest related to one. Congratulations again on finding that." Julie burst out laughing again. "I'm sorry, I still think it's hilarious. Who would've thought your aunt turned out to be You-Know-Who's most loyal Death Eater. They never would've feared Harry Potter that much if they knew from what family you and Draco come from."

"And they will, wraaagh." Freya suddenly grabbed Julie by her shoulders from behind, making her jump and almost trip. "And who's laughing now, hmm?"

* * *

Already the end of Freya's first year. Bit longer than my next chapters probably, and still chaoticly skipping through the year. So here's a little excerpt from the next chapter:

_Draco passed Freya with his loaded trolley as she waited for her parents to appear through the enchanted wall. The cage with Melvin on top of her trunk almost fell off the trolley. After a great summer she was always excited to go back, but her cousin could be stolen. He was accompanied by a witch, who had her blond hair neatly put up in a bun. She must be Narcissa, his mother._

_"Now Draco, no need to be rude."_

_The blond teenager pretended not to hear his mother and went along, his friends further on in eyesight. Narcissa watched him go for a moment, then turned to Freya._

_"How are you, Freya? It's good to see you."_


	5. Platform nineandthreequarters

Hello again. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

It was early August in the hot summer of 1995. Wearing nothing more than a light summer dress and sandals Freya walked up the steps to the front door of the tall building that was magically hidden between number 11 and 13. It was the old Black residency in Grimmauld Place in London, now the hiding place of her mother's cousin Sirius Black. It was weird thinking of Sirius as an innocent man now, as only weeks ago she thought he was a murderer on the loose. Freya had to admit she didn't feel at all sorry for Harry Potter when Sirius Black supposedly wanted to kill him. She did not like the boy one bit. After the start of of the Triwizard Tournament last year Harry had become so unpopular that it wasn't everyone against Slytherin anymore, but everyone against Harry. And she couldn't care less. She remembered she and Julie laughed along with the other students. Julie even got her a 'Potter stinks' badge, eventually taking for granted that they came from Draco, whom she equally disliked.

Though things had been shaken up only weeks ago after the events of the Triwizard Tournament when Harry told everyone he had seen Voldemort returning. Nymphadora had explained to Freya that the Order of the Phoenix had become active again, that she had become a member of the Order alongside Sirius Black, and that he had always been innocent, now hiding for the Ministry at Grimmauld Place. She couldn't help but believe Harry that Voldemort was really back. Which meant, she realised after reading the Daily Prophet this summer, that she was one of the few.

Freya went inside after her mother Andromeda, and Dora followed behind. The Order had a meeting about Harry, who was attacked by Dementors close to his home in Little Whinging two days earlier. They wanted to get him to Grimmauld Place safely as soon as possible, the new headquarters for the Order of The Phoenix. Of course she wasn't welcome at the meeting. "Don't be silly, Freya, you're way too young," her mother had said, and to her dismay, Dora had agreed. Instead she was supposed to make a start with cleaning the house as more people would stay over the rest of the summer. And she wasn't even going to stay there herself! Sirius had lived there for about a year, but he really didn't seem to care about a clean house. Everything looked probably clean to him compared to his cell in Azkaban.

Sirius welcomed them heartily. "My favourite cousins," he said smiling and hugged them all three. He then led Nymphadora into the kitchen, while Andromeda ushered Freya into the living room.

"Why are you and dad not attending the meeting?"

"We're not real members of the Order, darling."

"Why not then? I would want to help, if I wasn't too young." She rolled her eyes as she said it.

"I'd prefer it if not every adult in our family is working in the line of fire. Besides, your father and I are not particularly trained to do. It's dangerous enough as it is."

"The Weasley's aren't either, are they?"

"No, but that's their choice. We can still assist in other ways. The Weasley's are about the most selfless family I can imagine. The least we can do is make them a comfortable home." Andromeda headed for the kitchen as well. "I'll fetch us some buckets, so we can get started."

"Yeah, with cleaning a house we're certainly going to win a war," Freya mumbled.

When the door swung open she heard chatter from the kitchen. She recognised the voice of Remus Lupin, followed by Nymphadora's giggles. Freya smirked, Dora giggling like that could only mean one thing. But she didn't mind, she liked Remus. It had been her favourite teacher. Probably because he had finally taught them some real Defence Against the Dark Arts. She woke her from her thoughts a few moments later as Sirius appeared from the kitchen.

"I have something for you." He came over with a big smile on his face. "I had Remus buy it in Diagon Alley for you. It's for helping clean the house and for your birthday later this month. I don't know if we'll be seeing each other again before that." She had already seen what it was, for it was too big to cover behind his back, but she almost couldn't believe her eyes when she saw what type of broom it was.

"Wow Sirius, a Firebolt! You shouldn't have done that!" It was the best racing broom in the world and really expensive. She knew Harry had gotten one some time ago, but then again, Sirius was his godfather.

"What am I going to do with all that money I inherited? I can't really go out shopping and spend it on myself, can I?"

Freya hugged him. "Wow, thanks so much! I love it!"

"Are you going to try for the Quidditch Team this year?"

She had always loved flying. Since Lucius Malfoy had bribed the Slytherin Quidditch Team with new Nimbus 2001's, Julie had gotten her brother Marcus's old broom. Freya had used the Cleansweep Seven a lot since then. There would be a new captain this year who might have another strategy than Marcus, who usually just picked the biggest and strongest players. But she had realised she preferred to just make speedy rides.

"No, I don't think so," she replied to Sirius. "I think I actually like it better to do some tricks diving to the ground or just fly around through the Forbidden Forest and... Oh, don't tell my mum I do that."

Sirius laughed. "I won't. I used to roam the forest as well with my friends. We Blacks are a bunch of rebels, we are. Your mother included actually, in her younger years. But don't tell her I said that."

"Well I guess so. You and mum both rebelled against your family." She gestured to the room high tapestry on the wall, picturing the Black family tree. "Is that why you both are burned?"

"Yeah, we didn't quite fit the profile," Sirius said and looked at the tapestry with a disgusted face. "I hate this thing."

"It fascinates me how far it goes back. But I think it's a pity it's not complete. Not really." She stroke the blackened patch her mother's face once was. "Must be strange, seeing you face burned off. Like you never existed, and nothing of you lives on. The whole branch is dead. Dora and I aren't even on here."

"I'm sorry. My dear old mother is responsible for every burned patch since she became the owner of the house. She is the yelling painting in the hallway."

"I figured as much." Freya chuckled.

Sirius shrugged. "Alas, we can't take it down, just as this tapestry."

Freya pointed to a young man's face. "I can see it updates magically. Draco's smug face as a fifteen-year old sprouted from a branch attached to the image of a blond haired woman. _Narcissa, 1955, Lucius Malfoy_ was written on the label located under her. "And who was this then?" Her hand went to the left and followed the branch under the face of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange to another burned patch. "Why was this burned?"

"Your cousin Pollux." Sirius muttered. "He turned out to be a squib."

Freya burst out laughing. "No way! They produced a squib? That's hysterical."

"Ironic, isn't it?" Sirius scratched his beard. "Though it took their pride. Bellatrix devoted her live to become Voldemort's most loyal Death Eater to prove herself worthy to him again. She turned into a maniac. Your aunt and uncle had no mercy. They killed Pollux presumably. Nobody has seen him at least."

Freya fell silent again. What an awful story. What kind of parents would do that to a child? Their own child even? No wonder her mother kept quiet about her sister. "That's horrible. Thank goodness they're in Azkaban."

"They never got tried for it, but still, they got a life sentence anyway. She was already deranged before she landed in Azkaban."

"What was it like anyway? Azkaban, I mean?"

"It's horrible in a way that is beyond your imagination, Freya. You'll feel miserable the moment you enter and it gets worse by the day. I don't really like to talk about it."

Freya nodded. She could understand that. She had seen his Sirius' pictures on the front page of the Daily Prophet when he had just escaped. He looked way better now, but was still skinny after two years outside of prison. "I just can't get how you can survive such a thing for twelve years."

"The thing that kept me going it was the knowledge I was innocent, yet an unhappy thought. And that's why I didn't lose my mind. There are things you forget though." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Dementors will feed on anything. Like memories that aren't important. You remember things differently than they were. It slowly comes back though."

Freya looked at him for a moment. She saw the pain in his eyes when he talked about it. The silence between them was broken when Andromeda carried two buckets into the living room. "Don't just stand there, Freya, come help me. Everyone has arrived, Sirius. They're all in the kitchen waiting for you."

Sirius ruffled Freya's curls before he left them to their cleaning. "It's still sad when a meeting is the most fun I do all summer, but I'm happy you're all here."

* * *

It was early in the morning of September 1st. Freya was packing her trunk in her room. The summer had been nice, but she had longed to go back to start her fourth year at Hogwarts. She stuffed her new equipment and books neatly inside and took the next book from the pile on the floor. _Defensive Magical Theory_. She wondered who their new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher would be. Dora told her there had been seven different teachers in her time at Hogwarts. Freya herself had already had three different. Last year they had been taught by an escaped Death Eater, impersonating Moody, Dora's old mentor in Auror training. It had been interesting though, when he performed the Unforgivable Curses in front of the class. Probably the most exciting demonstration they had seen, though kind of deterrent after they found out it was Barty Crouch Jr. performing them. Furthermore, Lockhart had been a disaster in their first year, so she had liked professor Lupin the best so far and was sad to see him go, because it came out he was a werewolf. At least he was doing fine now, if she interpreted the flirtatious looks correctly she had noticed all day between Dora and him.

And so today September had arrived. Both her parents were taking her to Kings Cross Station today, but Dora had to work and they had already said goodbye when she left early in the morning.

"Ready to go, darling?" Her mother peeked inside when she just closed her trunk. Melvin already sat in his cage. Andromeda levitated the trunk downstairs while Freya carried the cage and her new broom. Ted placed his hand on their shoulders and apparated with both of them in an abandoned alleyway in London. Together they crossed a street to enter the station and found Freya a trolley to put her luggage on. Freya was used to getting a few funny looks when rolling the trolley with her trunk and Melvin's cage and her broom on top, and they hurried to the right platform as fast as they could. People must think they were going to some sort of gig, as they clearly weren't the only magical family in the station seeing off their child. The three of them walked up to the brick wall that concealed the entrance to the Hogwarts Express.

"You go ahead, Freya, no one is watching us," Ted said.

"And wait for us there," Andromeda added.

Freya set off in a quick pace and pushed her trolley through the pillar that led her to platform 9¾ where the Hogwarts Express stood on the track blowing off some steam. As she steered the trolley towards the train she was almost knocked over. The cage with Melvin on top of her trunk almost fell off.

"Watch where you're going, traitor!"

Draco passed Freya with his loaded trolley as she waited for her parents to appear through the enchanted wall. After a great summer she was always excited to go back, but her cousin could be stolen. He was accompanied by a witch, who had her blond hair neatly put up in a bun. She must be Narcissa, his mother. She looked quite like the image on the family tapestry.

"Now Draco, no need to be rude."

The blond teenager pretended not to hear his mother and went along, his friends further on in eyesight. Narcissa watched him go for a moment, then turned to Freya.

"How are you, Freya? It's good to see you."

"Uhm... fine," Freya replied, a bit taken aback by the sudden attention from the woman. She couldn't recall seeing her aunt ever before.

Narcissa took no notice of her puzzled behaviour and looked her up and down. "How you've grown."

Freya felt a hand placed on her shoulder followed by a stern voice. "Narcissa."

"Andromeda," Narcissa replied curtly. "Just saying hello to my niece."

"We'd best be on our way," Andromeda took over the trolley and gestured Freya and Ted to follow her further on the platform.

"Good luck this year, Freya."

Freya looked back over her shoulder to Narcissa, then back at her mother, who now looked thoroughy grumpy.

"That was weird," she said moments later. She had never gotten a hint that her aunt had been remotely interested in her. All of the birthday cards and presents she received each year had been from her father's side of the family.

"Just forget it. Normally we're not worth her time." Andromeda hauled the trunk off the trolley and helped Freya get it inside the luggage compartment. "Have a great term, Freya." She kissed her daughter on the cheek and put a dark curl behind her ear. Then she turned in a whisper. "Will you be very careful, darling? With You-Know-Who back, Hogwarts is probably not the same, even though only few believe it."

"I will, mum," Freya said, while she hugged her mother. She kissed her father goodbye for the last time and watched them walking back arm in arm down the platform.

As she made her way through the train, looking for a friendly face, she saw Draco and Narcissa saying goodbye. After a tight embrace Draco got inside the train and Narcissa turned around and walked away. Without thinking a second Freya jumped back on the platform, rushed up to her aunt and caught her arm. She turned around looking quite angry, but her expression softened at once.

"Why were you talking to me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why would you care to talk with me?" Freya asked. "How I've grown and all? Why would you care how I'm doing?"

"Can't I just be polite?" There was a hurt tone in her voice. "We're not all full of hatred towards… Andromeda must have been telling you that nonsense, hasn't she?"

Freya fell silent for a moment. She couldn't deny that. But there must be some sort of truth in it, she thought. Why else was she abandoned by her whole family? "Draco is the only one I know from you all. I can't say he the nicest guy around."

"Perhaps you should get to know each other better."

"I'll pass, thanks." Freya said dryly, not caring that she might have offended her. But instead she got a little smile in return.

"In my opinion you are more like your father in appearance, but your temper and wits are definitely from a Black.

"So I've been told." Freya replied. "Or at least, having my mother's temper, yes. But I can't really say I have the looks of a Tonks. I could be the milkman's for all I know."

Narcissa eyes widened and looked startled by her sudden remark.

"Well, what do I know about your family, really? We never see each other."

Her slightly shaky voice was notable in her otherwise composed appearance. She cleared her throat and gave Freya an uncomfortable smile. Freya eyed her aunt cautiously, trying to pick up on anything else in her uneasy behaviour. But it had already been enough. "You _do_ think I am somebody else's, don't you?"

"How would I know?" Narcissa turned around quickly and hurried off.

"Wait! Who?" Freya called after her just as the train whistle sounded as a signal that they would be leaving soon. She had no choice but to get back inside. She didn't want to miss the train to Hogwarts, but her heart pumped vigorously when she closed the door behind her. If Ted wasn't her father, then who was? Someone Narcissa had known? Maybe someone the Black family actually approved of. But what about Dora? She resembled Ted like two drops of water. What had her mother been up to then? Their marriage seemed fine, she would surely have picked up on something like an affair, wouldn't she? And Dora would tell her if she knew. But Narcissa had definitely slipped something she regretted, and she was going to find out what. This was going to be an interesting year for sure.

Little did she know.


	6. Dumbledore's Army

**Hello again. I'm sorry I skipped a week and I have to say that I probably have to do that again some time as I'm not completely sure how I want to finish this story and I want to avoid making mistakes in earlier chapters. But I'll do my best. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter.**

* * *

Freya recognized two of her classmates by their long blond and red hair walking towards the exit to their next class of Care of Magical Creatures on the school grounds. She quickened her pace to catch up with them.

"Hi there, how was your Ancient Runes class?"

Ginny turned around. "Oh hey, Freya. Yeah, it was alright. Professor Umbridge was there with her clipboard, but she didn't say much. I think she highly approves of the theoretical nature of Ancient Runes. No wands necessary," she said as they walked down the hill to Hagrid's hut.

"Professor Babbling gave us tons of homework." Luna said.

"Like always." Ginny added. "It's a nightmare. But you can always drop it, Luna. You take three elective subjects."

"Oh no, I'm glad I took Ancient Runes. I think it's fascinating and I love being able to read all those old texts. Feels like living in a whole different era."

Freya smiled. It didn't surprise her to hear that. Luna usually acted like she was living in a whole different world. Sometimes she seemed to see things that nobody else did. "Well I'm glad I took Arithmancy then," she said as they arrived at Hagrid's Hut. They always gathered for class even though Hagrid wasn't there to teach them. "Sounds like a better investment of my time than a dead language."

Ginny joined some of her fellow Gryffindors after they greeted Professor Grubbly-Plank. She was an elderly witch and the substitute teacher in Hagrid's absence. Nobody had any clue about where he'd gone or when he'd be back. But although Freya liked Hagrid very much, she had learnt more from professor Grubbly-Plank, whose lessons were a lot more organized and suitable to fourth years. Today they were going to study unicorns in the Forbidden Forest, something a lot of students had been looking forward to. As soon as everyone had arrived they set off in the direction of the forest.

"Are you going to Hogsmeade this Saturday?" Luna asked.

"Yeah maybe, if the weather is not getting too bad I will. But I heard it's going to snow a lot."

Luna took her arm to walk closer to her and lowered her voice. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to invite anyone myself, but Hermione has told me they're organizing a secret meeting in the Hogs Head Inn. They want to form a sort of duelling club, practising spells instead of our wandless Defence against the Dark Arts classes."

"Really?" As Defence Against the Dark Arts again appeared useless this year, it was a pleasant surprise. Though her excitement was short-lived as she thought about it some more. "But I think I can guess who's going to be the teacher."

"You're right to think Harry isn't keen on having Slytherins," Luna said. "But he shouldn't be. It's kind of unfair in my opinion. Maybe you can ask Julie if she wants to come too."

"Harry is not going to thank me if I tell her," Freya snorted by the idea what his face would look like if she showed up in the Hog's Head with half of Slytherin House.

"Well, Hermione trusts me, and I trust you, so if you trust Julie then I see no reason you can't."

Freya admired Luna's good faith in almost anybody. But she was still right. It shouldn't be problem from which house anyone was. If the purpose of these classes was to get better at duelling, then anybody who wanted to have duelling lessons to practise should be able to join.

"Alright," she said finally as they came to a halt in a forest clearing. "I'll ask Julie this afternoon. She still wants to try my Firebolt, so were going outside flying together. Freezing cold in the wind, but alright, I promised her."

And so both Freya and Julie walked back from the castle grounds later that day. Freya had gotten numb with cold. Her green striped scarf and woollen hat had been barely enough to keep her warm, and she had mainly been watching from the ground how Julie soared through the sky on her Firebolt.

"Whenever it's going to be better weather I want to go again," Julie said excitedly the moment she landed in front of Freya's feet. "What a speed you can get with this broom. Amazing. Pity they're so expensive. Maybe Draco's father could donate new brooms again to the team. Marcus would be so jealous."

Just after they went in and felt the heat of the flaming torches in the corridor. "Can I go again this weekend?"

Freya suddenly caught Julies arm and stopped her. The Hogsmeade weekend. She'd better ask now they were alone.

"Before I forget, I need to ask you something important."

"I'm sorry, Freya. I will not marry you."

"Ha-ha," she said dryly. Julie was the best friend to have a laugh with, but she could be such a child sometimes when she wanted to discuss something important.

"Well, you look so serious. What the hell is it?"

"Luna told me there is a meeting this Saturday. In Hogsmeade. Organized by Harry Potter and some friends."

"Why on earth would I go to a meeting with them?" Julie drew a face as if she was about to puke.

Freya sighed impatiently. "Can I explain?"

"Sorry."

"Harry is willing to tutor us in spells and duelling. Have some extra exercise, since Umbridge won't let us." She paused and uncertainly eyed her friend who had raised her eyebrows. "I don't know who else is coming, but I thought maybe we could go together?"

"Are you serious?" Julie snorted. "There is not one cell in Potter's body that is willing to teach me anything. How does he feel about you joining?"

"The same, probably. But he doesn't know yet."

"I'm not coming, Freya. It's a bad idea." Julie pressed her lips together. "He hates Slytherins. Maybe he'd make an exception for you, your sister being an Auror and all, but I'm not going to stand there and watch how they freeze me out."

Freya understood and nodded. Maybe her relationship with Dora and Sirius as members of the Order of the Phoenix would indeed win Harry over, though Julie didn't know about that. Still, it had been worth asking her. At least she had now made up her mind to go. "I do wonder how he will react if I show up there. But I can try. I just want to have some proper duelling lessons."

"Yeah, go for it." Julie started to walk further, but Freya stopped her again.

"But please, please, tell nobody else then. If they know I told you I'm damned."

"I promise. I don't want to be the one to stop you." Julie put a hand on Freya's shoulder in support. "You definitely could do with some extra lessons."

"Julie!" Freya gave her giggling friend a nudge and tried not to laugh. "I am serious."

"My lips are sealed, don't worry," Julie said, sincerely this time.

"Thanks, Julie." Freya said and put arm around her friend.

"Harry isn't even that good, you know. He lands himself in trouble and then is just lucky everytime, but he has made everyone think he is such a genius."

"Gryffindor!" They exclaimed simultaneously and laughed as they made their way down the dungeons to the Slytherin common room.

* * *

"Thanks again for telling me, Luna. Sounds great to get some extra practice," Freya said as the two girls waited in line to get their names signed up for Dumbledore's Army. "We're not going to get it from Umbridge for sure."

"You're welcome Freya," Luna said excitedly. "I knew you'd wanted in on extra duelling lessons. And besides, I like to have a friend joining me."

It was still early in the afternoon and it had stopped snowing. Freya took a good look around the room. She had never been in the Hog's Head. It was kind of a creepy place, she thought. It was dark and stuffy, not at all like The Three Broomsticks. So probably the best place to hold a secret meeting like this.

Freya looked at the parchment the boy in front of her was scribbling on. So far everyone who had come this afternoon had signed up for the Duelling Club. Freya reached for the quill when the boy had put it down again and had stepped aside.

"Not you." Harry snatched away the quill from her and offered it to Luna instead.

"Harry!" Hermoine let out, telling him off. "Of course she can join."

"She is a Slytherin."

"You did not just say that, Harry." Hermoine sounded appalled.

"Come on, mate." Ron butted in. "It's Tonks' sister. She's okay. Ginny knows her well."

"But…"

"I wondered if you'd let a Slytherin join," Freya begun, interrupting Harry before he could say another word. "But most of them are more accepting than you, Harry. I hoped you had changed a bit after last year. Getting booed for supposedly putting your name in the Goblet of Fire. And now being called a liar for saying Lord Voldemort has returned. I believe you, yet you still can't trust me."

She paused a second to catch her breath and noticed that Harry was a bit taken aback. As was the rest of the group of students who stood behind her in line. "If you can name one good reason for mistrusting me, I will stay away. If you won't teach me anything, then fine. But since I know about this meeting and I'm fairly sure Umbridge would be thrilled if I told her, you might as well be doing your damn best."

Harry looked at both Ron and Hermione before finally giving in. "Fine," he muttered, giving Freya the quill, evidently displeased. "But you just gave me one good reason, so I'll be watching you."

Moments later she ploughed through the snow back to the castle beside Luna, her heart still pounding from her angry monologue. She might have gone a little too far with threatening to tell Umbridge, but at least it had persuaded him.

"I thought that was really brave, Freya, to stand up for yourself like that."

"Thanks, Luna, it felt good too. Though I wonder if he knows I'm going to spend Christmas with him."

The next Wednesday evening was their first meeting. It had surprised Freya it hadn't taken much longer to find a suitable place to practise. Through word of mouth She heard she had to go to the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor. She had never heard about it before, but it did exactly as she was told it would do. When Freya entered the Room of Requirement it was perfectly equipped for what they needed. It was a large room with dummy's to practise on and shelves with books on practical defensive magic.

She was the last one to enter, earning some surprised looks of some students who maybe thought she would've chosen to stay away. Luna waved at her as Harry cleared his throat to get the attention. He clearly was a bit nervous as he told them they would practise the Disarming Charm today and Harry made them pair up.

Freya had hoped she and Luna could be a pair, but Ginny had gotten ahead of her and the two of them started practising. For a moment it looked like she was the only one left, but then Freya spotted a boy in the corner, who didn't seem particularly pleased when she came up to him. Freya reached out to shake hands, she hadn't properly met him.

"I'm Freya Tonks," she introduced herself.

"Uhm, Neville Longbottom," he replied shyly.

"Want to practise together? I think we're the only ones left without a partner."

After a few minutes of trying to disarm Neville with the last set of five attempts all successful, she lowered her wand. He wasn't the hardest opponent if he wasn't even trying to counter the spell. "Okay now it's you turn, Neville," she said as she gave him his wand back she had caught in the last try.

He proved to be terrible. Her wand was just as firm in her hand after he had yelled the spell a couple of times. Only once did she feel a slight tug.

Neville dropped his shoulders. "I'm terrible," he mumbled.

"You should treat your wand as an extension of your arm, don't hold it too stiffly." Freya walked over to Neville and touched his arm. She felt his rigid muscles and tried to shake them loose. "Relax your arm a bit more. Your movements should become more subtle that way."

"I'm never relaxed," Neville moaned. "I get tense every time I mess up, so it only gets worse. It's like a vicious circle."

"You really don't have to be nervous in here. There's not even a professor here to scold you. Just try it."

Freya backed away from him again and held up her wand, waiting for Neville to do the same.

"Expelliarmus!" He yelled and flicked his wand. Nothing happened.

Neville sighed. "See? I'm hopeless."

"Come on, don't give up." Although she was inclined to do so herself. He was indeed quite hopeless from what she had seen so far.

"Easy for you to say. You're a natural. Harry hasn't given you anything to work on!"

"That's because Harry doesn't really want me to be here."

Freya was glad that Harry told them to change partners for a while. Practising with Luna and Ginny alternately had been useful as they offered a bigger challenge than Neville. Time past quickly and it was after nine when they said goodbye in the corridor. She was of course the only one headed for the Slytherin common room in the dungeons and she pondered things over on her way down. It had been a good training session. Gradually she got the hang of the Disarming Spell and at the end of the evening she usually got the best of her duelling partners. And if she wasn't mistaken, even Harry looked rather impressed.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed it. Till next time!**


	7. Family secrets

**Hi again, I'm back with a new chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

Freya sat on a small bench on the landing of the second floor of Grimmauld Place. She was spending Christmas with her family with Sirius this year. He hadn't made a secret of it that he was totally bored on his own so he had also invited Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys to join them. The family had gone through a rough time because of the attack on Mr Weasley at the Ministry. They had just arrived home after picking him up from St Mungo's Hospital. To their surprise they had come across Neville there, who had been visiting his parents on the ward. Freya was sitting with her head in her hands and stared at her shoes. On her way from Hogwarts to London she had planned to bring up the incident with Narcissa with her parents, but she was glad she hadn't yet done it. It didn't feel right to make a fuss. Not now anyway. She felt guilty. Even though she had known Neville for a short time, she quite liked the boy. And he had mentioned once or twice that he lived with his grandmother so now Freya felt bad about not knowing about what happened to his parents. Or maybe it was guilt about the fact that she had nothing to complain about compared to him. Seeing Neville cherishing a candy wrapper his mother gave him really put things into perspective. Did it really matter if Ted wasn't her father? At least she had a father caring for her.

"Thinking about Neville?"

Freya looked up and nodded. She had been too occupied to notice him coming towards her. Harry sat down next to her on the bench, resting his head on the wall behind.

"So sad how they risked their lives." Freya said. "This is just worse than death, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's awful," Harry said. "I just wish they let us in on their meetings. I need to do something."

Freya nodded again in agreement. She had that feeling too now she had seen for herself what horrible things Voldemort and his followers were capable of.

"Does your sister ever let something slip about their meetings? Maybe on accident?"

She sniffed. "No, not at all. And she hates it when I pry."

"I just wish I knew what he was doing there. Mr Weasley, I mean, in the Ministry. What can be that important?" He sighed deeply.

Freya looked at him. "Are you okay? You look like you could sleep for a week."

Harry shrugged. "I'm alright."

"Must be tough. Leading the DA beside all this chaos around you. And taking your O.W.L.s this year. Are you on schedule with your own studies?"

"You sound like Hermione."

Freya grinned. "Maybe that's why you start to like me."

Harry looked at her and gave an embarrassed smile. "You're a good friend, Freya. I'm sorry I never trusted you. And that I made no secret about it."

"Oh, I get it," Freya said. "It's easier sometimes to avoid people. You don't get betrayed if you don't come close."

"I should've given you a chance."

"Well, you're doing it now. And no hard feelings, I never liked you either." She glanced over at him and smiled. She could see what Ginny liked about him. The green twinkling eyes behind his round glasses and his warm smile made him kind of attractive.

"It's just… It _is_ tough actually. Sometimes can't trust myself anymore. Look at what happened."

Freya frowned in surprise. What would make him think that? "With Mr. Weasley?" She asked. "You probably saved his life in there."

"Yeah, maybe."

They sat silent for a minute, neither knowing what to say anymore.

"Want to play Chess?" Freya asked. But before Harry could answer, they heard Molly yelling from downstairs for everyone to come down to the kitchen.

"Challenge accepted for later," Harry said and stood up. "I think right now it's time to unpack our Weasley jumpers."

* * *

A few weeks later they were back at Hogwarts again. Just like the previous one, this Hogsmeade weekend was accompanied by a pack of snow. If it wasn't for the bad news about Azkaban prison they had read in the Daily Prophet yesterday morning, they wouldn't have gone because of the stormy weather. But everyone seemed in need of a little distraction. Freya had taken shelter in Zonko's Joke Shop with Ginny for a moment after the wind had picked up again and they were almost blinded by snowflakes blowing in their faces.

"You know, Dungbombs are actually very handy," Ginny said, picking up a flyer from the counter to put in an order. "I always think of Fred and George setting off one under Aunt Muriel's chair once. She visited us on Christmas each year until that incident. She probably would've come all the way to London this year if it wasn't for them." She chuckled and looked outside. "Oh, I think it has stopped snowing for a moment. Let's go back quickly."

They stepped out of Zonko's Joke Shop and ploughed onwards in the snow. More people seemed to have chosen this moment to come out of their shelter and head back for the castle.

"Isn't that Neville in front of Honeydukes?" Freya pointed to a figure with a layer of snow on his hair and jacket. "Looks like he's been standing there for an hour."

"Poor thing," Ginny said. "And to think we only just found out about his parents."

As the two of them came closer they saw he was staring at a set of posters hanging on the wall outside of the popular sweet shop. _Mass breakout from Azkaban_. The news had spread by the Daily Prophet over breakfast the day before and everyone had been talking about it ever since. There was already a change of the average student's opinion of Harry that same day. Already a couple of them had come up to him to say that they believed him now. They were convinced You-Know-Who was the only one able to aid such a breakout, so he must have come back. Others however believed Cornelius Fudge that Sirius Black must have something to do with it. It made Freya very mad to think that he was again wrongly accused of having ties with Voldemort's followers. Though there was nobody she felt worse for than Neville.

Neville didn't seem to have noticed them at first. "Why…" He whispered after a moment.

"Yeah," Ginny said. "I'm so sorry Neville. Ten of them. But don't worry. Aurors will get them soon enough."

Neville didn't reply, though his face was red and clenched fists were trembling. Freya guessed it must be anger rather than from the cold alone.

"Yesterday isn't soon enough." She muttered, as Ginny put an arm around Neville and walked away with him. Freya watched the pictures on the poster. The Daily Prophet only had Bellatrix Lestrange feature on the front page, but all ten escapees had their picture stuck on the windows of several shops in Hogsmeade. She remembered how Draco had made her aware of the fact that this Bellatrix was the sister her mother never wanted to talk about and wondered if Neville had known they were family. She realised that she had never seen a picture of her aunt before. Bellatrix looked a lot like Andromeda, Freya had to admit. It was strange to see the witch chained up in her Azkaban cell. Her aunt really looked deranged with her uncombed dry hair and half rotten teeth. Freya could imagine that the two sisters must have been easily mistaken for one another before Bellatrix was sent to Azkaban. Then her focus shifted to the poster next to hers. It was a poster of a man, dark hair and brown eyes. He looked strangely familiar as well, even though she couldn't think of a way she could have seen him before. She looked away from the poster, as to remember where she might have seen that face. It took only a second before she realised she was watching her own reflection in the window of the shop. And then it struck her.

'_You are more like your father in appearance, but your temper and wits are definitely of a Black_.' Freya looked at the name under the picture and tried to swallow the lump that grew in her throat. _Rodolphus Lestrange._

_'Like your father in appearance,'_ she heard again and tried to shrug it off.

"Freya!" Ginny shouted from afar. "You coming?"

She ripped the poster of Rodolphus from the window, stuffed it in her coat and hurried along, the voice of Narcissa Malfoy still echoing inside her head.

* * *

_January 17th, 1996_

_Dear Dora,_

_So we're all back at Hogwarts. Bit shaken up after the Azkaban breakout. I was wondering about something. Did mom ever have contact with the Lestranges before they got arrested? I mean, I know she didn't see her family much, but maybe._

Freya reread what she had written. She sighed and crumpled the parchment. This was way too obvious. She could just as well ask Dora if she knew if her mother ever had an affair with one of the Lestrange brothers. And what if she did. Dora was only eight years old when she was born. She might not even know. Should she just go with the original plan she had with Christmas and ask her parents directly? It still seemed ridiculous. As far as Freya knew, they had always had a great marriage. She couldn't imagine her mother ever having cheated on her father. On the other hand, Narcissa Malfoy had known that something had happened. Should she write to her? But she had been secretive about it when they were on the platform together, she would probably just deny everything again.

She picked up the picture of Rodolphus for the hundredth time. Freya looked at it and placed it on top of the book Julie was reading next to her. "Look at him one more time."

Julie tilted her head and sighed. "You can't force me to see something I just don't see. He probably doesn't look anything at all like he did fifteen years ago. They all look like shit." She pushed the picture away.

"You're not looking properly. Here, his nose, his mouth. You really don't see something familiar?" She shoved the picture back under her friend's nose, but she didn't look.

"If you have a sudden desire to be a pureblood, I can think of a better father than that Lestrange, Freya."

"I'm not ashamed to be a half-blood Slytherin."

"Good. Come on, help me with the Herbology essay." Julie scanned the page to see where she had left off.

Freya bit her lip and didn't answer. Julie was no help in this. Well, she wasn't helping herself either. Maybe she'd better let it go for a while. Maybe Julie was right and she was seeing things. Maybe she just couldn't see the similarities she had with Ted.

Julie glanced back at her. "Listen, all pureblood families are somehow related, maybe you do have some Lestrange blood, maybe I have, who knows. I wonder why you care."

"Draco's mother let something slip once."

"Did she mention him? Did she say you look like him?"

"No, but…" Freya looked at the old Daily Prophet. The black and white Bellatrix Lestrange in the picture soundlessly screamed and pulled at her chains.

Julie looked over her shoulder. "Every time I look at that photo, it's like I see Andromeda chained up in there." "I mean, if I didn't know better, it could be your mother."

Freya turned it upside down. She had seen it enough now. She had the same feeling of looking at her mother. But then again, it could be her. It could be… her mother. She suddenly shot up from her chair. What if… Why had it taken her until now to realize?

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	8. Discoveries

**Hi again, enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

"Freya, hurry up! We're going to be late for class." Freya rolled over to see Julie braiding her hair in front of the mirror. "The others have gone up for breakfast ages ago. I really need to eat something before start of class."

"I told you, I'm not feeling well." She pulled the covers over her head.

She felt Julie sit down at the side of her bed. "Go and see Madame Pomfrey then."

"No, I'll be fine. It's just a headache. I barely slept last night." It was true she had lain awake a lot last night, thinking about the events of the last few days.

"You've been complaining about it since last week. What is it?"

"Just thinking about the breakout." The breakout, the Lestranges, her parents and Dora. She had been thinking about Neville too lately. Though she didn't think he would thank her if she told anyone why he had been raised by his grandmother. And she rather avoided the subject when it might have been her biological parents who had been the cause of that.

"Ask Madame Pomfrey for a Sleeping Draught then, if you're lying awake all the time. Now you're only missing classes."

Freya felt Julie tugging at the covers. She rolled on her back again and covered her eyes with her arms. "Please, Julie, you go on. My head is pounding."

"Alright," Julie sighed and got up to leave. "You take it easy today then. But if you're not feeling better by tomorrow I'll take you to the Hospital Wing personally. Or I'll talk to Professor Snape." On the doorstep of the dormitory she turned around. "I'll check in on you at lunchtime. Sleep tight."

Freya didn't reply. Of course she didn't want Julie to share her worries with any of the teachers, but she didn't have the energy to argue with her about it. Though Julie was her best friend, she knew that something wasn't right. But even if she believed her, she wouldn't be able to help her with anything. She should figure this out on her own. At least today Julie would leave her alone. The last thing she felt like doing was sitting in class right now, concentrating on lectures or potions instructions. Today was a DA meeting again, she might even skip that one. Hermione had given everyone a galleon, charmed to show he date and time of the next meeting so they didn't not have to speak with each other directly. Since the first lesson they had covered the Shield Charm, the Reductor Curse and the Stunning Spell and in the few classes in January she had attended, they had made a start with the Patronus Charm. A difficult one, and although she had worked hard she hadn't yet produced a corporeal one. But now she couldn't possibly concentrate on a happy thought enough to conjure it anyway. Having to talk to people was just too much right now. And on top of all, facing Neville. He had been so determined since the Azkaban breakout. How could she ever look him straight in the eye again?

* * *

A couple of weeks had past and spring had come. After Freya had left three letters from her sister unopened and unanswered, Dora had apparently gotten in contact with Ginny to ask if everything was alright. Knowing she couldn't keep this going, Freya had written back, saying she had been incredibly busy with keeping her grades up. It wasn't a lie. Free time after classes was usually spent in the quiet surroundings of the Library now. It took her so much longer than ever to finish her homework, constantly drifting off to confusing thoughts. From thoughts about whom she should be the angriest with for not telling her, and then back again to convincing herself it was absurd to think that she was a Lestrange. What proof did she have? It made her crazy. Freya closed her copy of _Intermediate Transfiguration _and put it in her bag. It proved impossible to get through the chapter of Vanishing Spells in this state of mind. If only she could make herself vanish. At least the amount of homework and the upcoming exams were a good enough excuse as to why she didn't attend the DA meetings anymore. Though she still carried the galleon around in her pocket. It made her feel being part of the group whenever the coin warmed up to alert the members of a new meeting. She missed them a lot, a good duel usually gave her lots of energy. She took the coin out of her pocket and looked at the numerals engraved on the coins. She knew there happened to be a meeting right this moment. Maybe she should have gone. Just to try and get that powerful feeling once again. It might help her feel better. She stood up and grasped her bag. If she went now, there was still a reasonable amount of time to practise. She just closed the door of the Library behind her when she heard a voice.

"Freya, wait up!"

Hermione came running towards her. "Thought I'd find you here." She seemed out of breath.

Freya frowned. What was Hermione doing here. She hadn't misread the date and time of the meeting, had she? "What is it?"

"It's Umbridge." Hermione panted. "She knows. She found out about the DA! I know you didn't come the last couple of weeks, but…"

"I didn't tell her," Freya said quickly. "Honest."

"I know, I know you didn't." Hermione looked at her and gave a feeble smile. "But the list with all our names is in the Room of Requirement. If they've found it, you're in trouble too!"

Great. Just what she needed at the moment. Being the only Slytherin in the DA, she would surely get a few funny looks from her fellow house members.

"The Inquistitorial Squad is trying to catch us all. So, just to warn you, they may be coming."

Hermione turned to run back again and squeaked as she almost bumped into Pansy Parkinson, who had been nearing them. "Aah, right on time, Granger." She grabbed Hermione at the back of her robes.

For a moment Freya thought about walking away. But if they hadn't found the list of names, she could maybe pretend she had never been there. Running away would then be very suspicious. But then she saw Draco come running around the corner and a wide grin showed up across his face.

Pansy looked over her shoulder. "Look Draco, we've got Tonks and Granger," she said, beaming at him.

Freya and Hermione exchanged looks and both knew. They had found it.

Pansy pulled Hermione with her through the corridor. "We're taking all your friends to the Great Hall. I might stay to enjoy you getting your rightful punishment for plotting against the Ministry."

Draco stepped in front of Freya. His Prefects badge on his robes shone alongside the silver 'I' that Umbridge had given her handpicked students for the Inquisitorial Squad.

"I saw all the names, Tonks. You're one of them." He took her arm and pushed her forward in the direction Pansy and Hermione had left. Freya let him take her. It wasn't really worth fighting for.

"Going to deduct house points from Slytherin then, Draco? I dare you." As if that really mattered.

"Oh no," he said drawling. "I wasn't talking about that. Haven't I warned you long since? The right side of power."

"The Ministry is ignorant," Freya scoffed. "They're too stupid to see what's going on. What power is that?"

Draco smirked. "Exactly."

It was late that evening when she got back in the common room. There were a few seventh years revising Charm work in front of the fireplace. They looked up when she entered and whispered among each other. She ignored it and went straight for the door to the fourth year girls' dormitory where she found Julie just changing into pyjamas.

Julie turned around on the creaking of the door. "Freya, I had been waiting for you. But it got so late," she whispered. The other girls already seemed asleep. "What did they have everybody do?"

Freya brushed her sore hand. The words that were carved into it by the Umbridge's enchanted quills had faded a bit again, but her hand was still red and burning.

"Julie?" Freya cleared her throat. "Did you tell Umbridge?"

"What? No, of course not."

"Sure? Maybe you let something slip."

Julie forgot about the whispering and raised her voice. "Well maybe you let something slip yourself. I told you I wouldn't tell."

"I'm sorry. Didn't know you would get so mad." Freya walked to her own bed and wanted to pull her pyjamas from under the blankets, but Julie caught her arm and faced her. Her angry expression startled Freya.

"You could have guessed it would hurt getting accused like that. You're my best friend, Freya. Or at least I thought you were. They brainwashed you there or something. You've been acting strange for weeks. With your headaches and all. I know something is going on, why won't you tell me? Don't you trust me anymore?"

"I do trust you. I just don't want to bother you with it."

"You didn't trust me enough to believe I can keep my mouth shut though. Whatever is the matter, I don't care. Go tell your new best friends, will you. And leave me alone." She stepped into bed and got under the covers with her back towards Freya.

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In the weeks past, Freya had felt quite guilty, as it was clear the day after that it had been a Ravenclaw girl that had snitched the DA to Umbridge, as was readable on her forehead in huge pimples. A clever trick of Hermione. Freya had apologized to Julie, but she was still treating her coldly. "If you don't want to tell me what is going on with you, then I don't want to hear anything else," she had said. So Freya just left it at that, afraid that she might be even more annoyed if she brought up the Lestrange subject again. She was not ready to share her theory. She didn't know exactly why. Shame maybe, or maybe she feared Julie would laugh at the stupid idea. Moreover, she was thinking more about Dumbledore at the moment. Umbridge acted as if he was the most dangerous wizard on the run from the Ministry and that catching him was a higher priority than Sirius Black, or even all ten escaped Death Eaters.

The time had come for the fifth years to take their OWL exams. She felt grateful that she didn't have to take them in this chaotic period with Dumbledore gone and Umbridge taking over as Headmaster. In the case she would still be at Hogwarts when next year she would take her OWL's, maybe things would have settled down a bit. In between the time she spent today revising for her own exams Freya had taken her Firebolt outside for a ride. It was possibly the only thing she liked doing now, as the change to get back to the DA had been wasted. Just as she was about to kick off from the ground, she heard a crackling sound in the air. It sounded like... Fireworks? It looked like it came from the Entrance Courtyard. What was going on there? She watched for a moment and saw two figures on a broom ascend into the air. Freya grinned. Fred and George, if she wasn't mistaken. Of course, who else would set of fireworks in the middle of exams? She shook her head and set off.

It must have been an hour later when she started getting hungry. A ride around the Black Lake had then driven her to the edge of Forbidden Forest. As she steered her broom lower to the ground she spotted two figures down her coming out of the forest. Still Fred and George making mischief, she thought at first. Though when she came closer, she saw it were Harry and Hermione running towards the castle. They were red and panting heavily. She lowered herself more and cut them off on the grounds. As she saw their faces she knew something was wrong.

"What happened?"

"It's Sirius," Harry panted.

"We think You-Know-Who has him," Hermione said. "In the Ministry. Harry has seen…"

"There's no time." Harry caught Hermione by the arm and started running again. "We've got to help him."

Sirius in trouble? Freya's heart started racing. What had happened? How did he get there? She mounted her broom again and flew after Harry and Hermione. She was not going to be left behind. Whatever they were going to do to save Sirius, she was coming along.

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**Thanks for reading! And thank you to everyone who has been following, favouriting or reviewing so far. I really appreciate that:). Till next time!**


	9. The Department of Mysteries

Hi everyone, enjoy the next one:)

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Freya had never been in the Ministry of Magic before. It was larger than she had always imagined it. Long corridors with high ceilings, and the way down the elevator seemed to take ages. She felt strikingly calm, as if sneaking into the Ministry was an everyday thing to do, with no consequences if they got caught. But is it was worth the risk. It was Sirius' life on the line. And if they saved him, maybe he would be willing to tell her all about the Black family.

They were going to the Department of Mysteries, Harry had said that was the place where Sirius was being held. The seven of them entered a dimly lit chamber. It was impossible to see where the walls of the room rose up. As far as they could see there were racks stacked full with glass balls, shining a white-blue light into the endless room. Harry was already yards away when she looked down the aisle. The rest of them was trying to keep up with him, though Harry was already turning around and starting back so Freya quickly caught up with the rest.

"He should be here," Harry said. "Where is he? Sirius!" He was about to go back down another corridor when Ron looked up at one of the shelves and called him back.

"Harry, it's got your name on."

They gathered round Harry who slowly took the dusty ball of the row. It had a small label reading Harry's name in curled letters. The mist swirling inside the ball grew thicker until it was almost completely opaque. They waited in silence for something to happen when Freya heard a voice coming from behind them.

Apparently Harry had heard it too as he turned around as well. "Where's Sirius?"

"You know you ought to tell the difference between dreams and reality. You saw only what the dark lord wanted you to see." A masked man came forward, though even when he took the mask from his face Freya still couldn't make out his face in the darkness, though his shiny white-blond hair gave her the idea she knew perfectly well who that man was.

"Now hand me the prophecy," Lucius Malfoy continued.

Harry looked down at the glass ball he was still holding. "Why did Voldemort want me to come and get this?"

"You dare speak his name," said a female voice. "You filthy half-blood!"

"Bellatrix Lestrange." Neville took a step forward as a witch with a bush of dark curly hair appeared.

Bellatrix Lestrange? Freya tried to get a good look at the woman, but it was too dark and far away to see. Though she couldn't just step closer to them as even more Death Eaters approached them from different sides. She felt her own heart race, though Harry seemed incredibly calm as he spoke with Lucius, who tried to convince him to hand over the prophecy. Just like the rest of them Freya held her wand at the ready in front of her so they all stood with their backs at each other, facing masked men encircling them. Freya started as she suddenly heard breathing close beside her and recognized Ron's voice when he whispered in her ear.

"On Harry's signal."

She nodded she had understood and shuffled closer to the person on the other side next to her. It was Ginny, who also nodded as she passed the message by mumbling in her ear. Freya gripped her wand more firmly and waited for Harry's sign to attack. Would they be able to withstand all of them? How many Death Eaters were there? Would all the escaped Lestranges be here? She tried to look at the eyes through each mask, but the only thing she could see were dark holes.

"Now!" Harry yelled suddenly and simultaneously they shot Stunning Spells towards all the Death Eaters around them, clearing their way. They ran as fast as they could trying to find the way out between the seemingly infinite rows of shelves stacked with glowing orbs. Death Eaters kept turning up beside them. They tried to fight them off using the Stunning Spells, but defending yourself while running at full speed proved very challenging. They knocked over some of the shelves in the process, missing their targets even more often than hitting them.

"Get back to the door!" Someone yelled. She saw Hermione point in front of them and Freya could make out the dark door through which they had come in, placed in the middle of the corridor. It swung open when they came closer and they ran one by one through the open door, all realizing too late there was no floor in the space they entered. Before they crashed on the ground yards below however, something like a Slowing Charm made them stop but an inch from hitting the stone. Freya clambered on her feet as fast as she could. Everyone looked around the room first before landing their eyes on Harry, waiting for him to explain when he had seen this room in his vision, but he seemed not to know this place either. He had the prophecy in his hand, which had survived the free fall and slowly walked up to an arch in the middle of the room. It held a sort of transparent veil that waved like there was a breeze flowing past it. Though Freya could feel of hear no wind at all, it was completely silent. They all watched Harry apprehensively.

"Harry?" Hermione said nervously, as Harry was almost close enough to touch the veil. "What is it?"

"I hear whispers," he said.

"Please come back Harry, I have a bad feeling about it."

Before Harry could get a change to get back to them, they heard a swooshing sound and a big cloud of black smoke enclosed them. It disorientated Freya and she waved her arms about to get the strange smoke out of her face when she felt someone tugging at the back of her jumper. She got pulled backwards and almost fell down. She managed to stay upright although someone gripped her arms from behind. When the smoke cleared up she saw a dozen black figures surrounding them, half of them holding one of her friends, except for Harry, who was standing in the middle, looking at the prophecy in his hand.

"If you move I will kill you." A man with a hoarse voice tightened his grip on her. She had her wand still in her hand, but there was no way to even move it an inch. She watched the scene in front of her anxiously. Harry still seemed to be very calm as Lucius Malfoy walked over to him.

"Give me the prophecy now, or watch your friends die." Lucius stopped and stretched out his hand.

"Don't give it to him, Harry!" Neville shouted. He had blood in his mouth so to hear.

Harry looked around at each one of them. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before he moved forward and placed the orb inside Lucius's hand. The whole room was silent as Lucius held the prophecy into the air, studying it carefully. Then he looked up as if he heard something. He turned his head towards the arch in the room, as if he had heard strange voices as well. Suddenly Freya heard something too, but that weren't whispers. Her heart leapt as one by one the Order members appeared. Dora and Remus, and then Moody joined them, all with their wands at the ready. Then Kingsley appeared, followed by Sirius. So he had been alright all along. Freya felt the grip on her arms loosen as the Death Eater behind her started shooting spells over her head towards the newcomers. She wriggled out of his grasp and ducked behind a rock. Flashes in every colour flew everywhere and she tried to direct spells at every masked men she could see through the chaos of spells and curses.

"Freya!" She looked behind her and saw Dora sprinting towards her with Luna beside her. With force she was pulled back out of the bustle.

"What in the name of Merlin were you thinking? It's dangerous here," she panted and pushed her and Luna behind a rock in a corner. Dora stepped back and just jumped out of the way when a jet of green light smashed a piece of the wall next to her. "Stay put." And she was gone again.

Freya tried to see what was going on. She saw Dora shooting spells in a high frequency in the direction of one of the Death Eaters. Harry was also still duelling among them. He apparently had taken on a fight alongside Sirius against Lucius, while Moody and Kingsley were battling several men at once. Remus had taken Neville and Hermione out of harm's way and now stormed back into the fight. It was hard to see what exactly was going on. She saw several Death Eaters stunned or wounded on the ground. Kinsley had been forced to use his wand with his other hand as his wand arm had a nasty cut and hanged limply beside his body as if it were broken.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Freya jumped with fright and looked to where the green jet of light had come from. Bellatrix Lestrange had a satisfied expression on her face as she looked at the effect of her curse. Freya gasped as she watched the scene in front of her. She saw Sirius' motionless body slowly fall through the veil. She saw Remus run as fast as he could to where Harry stood, stiffened in shock next to the archway. He grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back from following his Godfather through the veil. Seconds seemed like hours, while the other Death Eaters continued their battle with the rest of the Order. Though Freya was focused only on the cackling laughter that had woken Harry out of his state of shock. She saw Bellatrix fleeing from the other side of the room as Harry tore himself loose from Remus and disappeared behind her.

Without thinking Freya circled the room, avoiding to get hit by those still fighting and tried to catch up on Harry outside. The mixture of screeches and laughter in the distance grew louder and when she reached the hall, she saw Harry point his wand at Bellatrix, still running after her.

"Crucio!" He yelled.

Bellatrix didn't seem to get affected much, but screeched when she fell to the floor. She turned around angrily and yelled. "Never used an Unforgivable curse before, have you, boy?"

"Harry!"

"Freya, go away!" Harry yelled back and averted his eyes for a second to where she had come running from, enough for Bellatrix to disarm Harry with one flick of her wand and she quickly got to her feet again.

"Have you come after me to avenge my dear cousin?" She raised her wand. "You'll be joining him soon."

"Harry!" Freya yelled again. As she caught up with Harry, Bellatrix turned her eyes to her. It was in the bright light of the central hall that she had a good look at the witch for the first time. Bellatrix and Andromeda, they looked so much alike, how could they be so different? Curiosity took over when Freya stared into her eyes and she took a few steps closer, forgetting her fear of the witch for a moment.

She vaguely heard voices coming nearer from where they had entered the atrium. The Order was coming. Bellatrix was getting caught again. "Freya, come back!" She heard Harry yell. The fear in his voice made her come back to her senses. She saw Bellatrix's outstretched hand and quickly stepped backwards to dodge it, but with one quick snatch Bellatrix pulled Freya towards her and took her further back into the atrium. Her mad expression turned into a grin and by the time Freya regained her balance she was surrounded by large green flames. She fell to her knees when she tried to fight the force that pulled her into the fireplace, but her hands slipped away on the green floor tiles. She met Harry's eyes and realised what happened. The last thing she saw were more figures entering the atrium, amongst them a purple haired woman with a face in horror. Dora. Then it all vanished in front of her eyes.

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Thanks for reading!

Guest reviewer: I'm glad you like it. Maybe this hasn't been the interaction you'd hoped for yet, but I think the next chapter will make up:).


	10. Malfoy Manor

**Hello again! Enjoy the new chapter.**

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The world kept spinning around her. Freya desperately tried to hold on to the wand in her hand, while trying with her other to fight off the witch who held her. She felt the tight grip loosening and for a moment she thought to have shaken her off, before she made a belly slide in front of a huge fireplace. Her sudden encounter with the floor made her drop her wand, which slid out of her reach. Freya crawled over to it as fast as she could.

"Stupify!" A voice yelled as she stretched her arm to get hold of it again.

She was forcefully lifted off the ground and crashed into a pillar in the middle of the room. A little disorientated she scanned the stone floor again in search of her wand. Freya saw it was yards away now and out of her reach as it was picked up by Bellatrix, who stuffed it in a pocket of her dress. All hope of regaining it again faded and Freya crawled back behind the pillar, terrified to death.

"Can't hide from me." Bellatrix cackled. "Although I do like to play a game with you."

Freya breathed heavily, her breast going up and down in a high frequency. She heard the clicking of heels on stone coming nearer each second. She forced herself to take a deep breath and become a little bit calmer, to be able to think. What the hell had happened in the previous minute? She looked around the room for any escape possibilities. She didn't know this place. Was it Bellatrix's house they had flooed to? It looked like the hall of a large mansion, with several pillars leading to a high ceiling and double oak doors on either side of the room, though both way too far to run to.

"Boo! Gotcha." Freya heard Bellatrix's voice above her. She felt a hand tugging hard at her hair and her head was being pulled back with force as she was hauled to her knees.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Bellatrix bent over and brought her face in front of hers. Freya gazed into the two dark angry eyes barely an inch away. She let out an unintentional cry as she tried to back away by burying her head in her shoulders, feeling her eyes wetting up with tears.

"Are you a scared little girl? You scared I'm going to hurt you?" Bellatrix taunted, using her childlike voice. She moved her face closer to one side. Freya felt a flow of air on her cheek and a chill went through her spine when she heard her whisper in her ear. "Well I'm going to."

Then suddenly Bellatrix let go of her hair and stood up straight again, hovering over her while she raised her wand. Freya shut her eyes.

"Crucio!"

The feeling of her whole body being pierced with knives befell her. Freya fell to ground, wriggling and screaming. The pain was unbearable, like her skin was being torn off. Her muscles flexed and she clawed her fingers, scraping her nails across the stone floor and digging them into her own skin, leaving bloody marks.

Then Bellatrix lowered her wand. Freya rolled on her back gasping for air as the sharp pain slowly left her body. It left a sickening sensation, making her want to throw up.

"How did you like that?" Bellatrix grinned maliciously. "This is but a foretaste of what I have in store for you!"

She circled around her threateningly. "You know, girl, you might be quite of use to me." Freya followed her with her eyes, feeling paralysed. "You must know a thing or two, being friends with that filthy Potter. So before I kill you and make you pay for interfering with the Dark Lord, you might like to share some of your secrets with me. Who else is helping him? Hmm? Where are your friends all hiding up?"

Freya looked away and stayed silent. She wasn't going to tell her a thing if she could help it.

"You will answer me!" Bellatrix's voice echoed through the hall. "Crucio!"

Again the pain raged through her like the hellfire, every nerve in her body burning. She kicked and twisted and screamed, her eyes bulging out of its sockets. It demanded everything she had to maintain consciousness. But she could feel her body giving in. She tried to focus on anything but the pain, but she couldn't, it was too overbearing. Just as everything around her became foggy, Bellatrix lifted the curse again.

"Don't pass out on me already." Bellatrix sulked and crouched down beside her, using her wand to swipe away the dark strands of hair that stuck to Freya's face, all gotten wet by sweat and tears.

"Is there something you would like to tell me already? Or can I have another go?" Bellatrix prodded with her wand into Freya's cheek.

"No… Please stop…" Freya muttered softly, using her last bit of energy to utter her words of pleading. She didn't feel like she had enough strength left to fight any longer.

"Your choice. Crucio!"

A soon as the curse had hit her and she registered the pain, it stopped again.

"Bella!"

The voice that had caused the distraction had sounded familiar. When Freya turned her head to see where it had come from, she saw Narcissa rush in, followed by a short rat-faced man.

"I could hear you through the entire mansion. What's happening? You were gone for so long. Where is Lucius?"

"We failed, Cissy, the prophecy is lost. We had Potter and his filthy friends before some Order members showed up. They've probably got Lucius and Rodolphus. That Longbottom boy was there with Potter. As well as this mutt."

Roughly Bellatrix hauled Freya up by her upper arm back on her knees. The sore muscles of her entire body trembled trying to support her and it felt like she would collapse under her own weight.

"Bella, no…" Narcissa clasped her hand in front of her mouth as she looked at Freya.

"Luckily I was able to take her while getting out using the Floo. I might get some information out of her before I kill her. She was almost passing out already. So weak. Just like those filthy parents of hers. Wormtail!" Bellatrix screeched suddenly. "Come here! Lock her up in the cellar for now!"

"What did you do to her?"

"What?" Bellatrix shrugged. "So what if she passes out for a moment? She'll come to. I won't let her get off that easily."

"But don't you know who that is?" Narcissa took a few steps closer to her sister. "That's Freya."

"I've been out for months, Cissy. I've heard about her," Bellatrix started sounding annoyed. "Since when do you care about our niece?"

Narcissa brought her trembling hands to her face. "She is _my_ niece, Bella, but… But Freya is your daughter."

_No_… Freya let out a soft moan. Her eyes met Narcissa's, her expression full of guilt. So it was true. Even though she had already assumed it, the confirmation still hit her hard. She shivered as she tried to regain her strength and pull away from Bellatrix's firm grip.

"How _dare_ you tell me this filth is mine?" Bellatrix growled and angrily she trust Freya back on the floor.

"Don't you have any memory of her left at all? Dementors sucked it all out, didn't they? Azkaban has changed you." Narcissa's voice trembled. "But this… How can you not know?"

"What are you on about, Cissy? I don't have a daughter."

"She's your child, Bella. Can't you see how she looks like Rodolphus?"

Freya groaned as Bellatrix prodded her face with the point of her shoe and lifted her cheek up a bit. A pair of eyes full of disgust stared straight down at her. Everyone was silent for a moment. The only sounds she could hear were her pounding heart and the short breaths she took to avoid the stinging in her ribs as she inhaled too deep.

Then Bellatrix stepped away from her again, pacing up and down the room. "If this is true, why didn't you tell me before?"

Narcissa swallowed. "I thought you remembered, but just didn't care about her. Like you never had." She paused for a moment. "I didn't know what you would do if you'd meet her, but I'd never thought you'd want to… kill her."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do! She's a disgusting traitor, she deserves nothing more than a slow and painful death."

Bellatrix sounded resolute. Not that Freya had imagined anything different. Within hours, maybe even minutes, Bellatrix Lestrange was going to start demolishing her. So if there was any chance to escape, she had to be quick. But she couldn't fight back without a wand, she couldn't apparate even if she'd learned how. Maybe the only way out was the fireplace, the way she had come in. She could make a run for it, now that the two witches were arguing.

"It's not her fault," Narcissa continued. "She was just a baby when you went to Azkaban. They took her from your home before I got there. That's why Andromeda has raised her."

"And you left her with them! How dare you? Why didn't you take care of her, Cissy?"

Freya slowly pushed herself away from them, inch by inch. If only she could get behind that couch without being noticed, then the fireplace was only a few feet away, only one jump.

"Why should I feel guilty? You should have taken care of her yourself!" Narcissa turned red with anger now. "You are her mother after all. You didn't even name her, just called her 'little pest'. The only thing that was important to you was to find Potter's parents. And after the Dark Lord was gone you became obsessed with finding him! There were days, no, even weeks you two didn't come home for her!"

"So you think a baby is more important than the Dark Lord, don't you? I gave up anything for him and I would do it again proudly. I know you don't care for him as I do, Cissy. You'd never go to Azkaban for him and leave your precious son, would you? But you didn't care enough for this girl? She wasn't worth it to be taken back to her own family?"

Narcissa remained quiet this time, nervously fidgeting on the spot. She turned her head to look at Freya, who held her breath anxiousy, until Narcissa looked back at her sister again. Hadn't she noticed she had moved or did she not want to?

"So it's your doing I've brought shame on our family. My daughter is a blood traitor because of _you_!"

"She still can be…"

"On our side? So now you think she's worthwhile? Because that means I need to torture her until she no longer knows who she is. Happy to do it, if you want it that badly."

No way. It was now or never. Freya scrambled to her feet as fast as she could, but even though the rush of adrenaline eliminated the pain in her muscles, she knew she was still too far away from the fireplace. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw that Wormtail had taken out his wand and flicked it in her direction. A force pulled her away from the fireplace back into the room.

"You know this fireplace is only connected for those few who are granted use, you idiot." Bellatrix snapped at Wormtail. "She isn't going anywhere. And I told you to put her in the cellar!"

Freya's heart sank. There was no way out. This could not be happening. "You can't do this!" She cried out and noticed her voice was hoarse from screaming. "Let me go."

"Be silent!" Bellatrix snapped. She threw a spell in Freya's direction which gave her an invisible blow to the chest. It forced the air out of her lungs painfully, and heavily coughing she crawled to her knees to catch her breath. Bellatrix came closer and leaned over to Freya to grab her chin in her hand. Freya winced as the felt the long nails dig into her cheeks.

"You heard it too, girl. You aren't going anywhere. And if you try anything like that again…" She growled and pointed with her wand at the fireplace. "I will make you beg me to kill you."

Freya swallowed. Whatever Bellatrix was planning to do to her, she did not want to think about it. She tried to push the image of Neville's parents out of her mind and felt a tear running down her cheek. Even after what she had experienced just now, it was still beyond her imagination what those two had gone through.

"Bella, I beg you, don't hurt her."

"What do you suggest I do then?" Bellatrix let go of Freya and faced her sister again. "I can't kill her. I can't hurt her. What would people say if I let one of my captives go just like that? What do you think the Dark Lord will do to us? I need to do what needs to be done. Unlike you, I take my responsibilities. Wormtail! Cellar!" She pointed her finger at Freya and followed him with her piercing eyes until he hurriedly came forward to try and pull Freya up by her arm.

"And you, Cissy, I swear," she turned around, reddened with rage and now pointing her finger at her sister. "You will regret this."

"I forbid you to kill her!" Narcissa yelled with a breaking voice.

"HA!" Bellatrix scoffed. "You forbid me? What makes you think I listen to you? Maybe you did it on purpose, huh? Someone else's child may be more talented and skilled than your sweet little Draco. You didn't want that in your home." Bellatrix slowly walked towards Narcissa until their noses were almost touching. "Well you're right, she would have been a powerful and respectable young witch, instead of that soft little prince of yours with Lucius's genes. Too bad she has to go."

"I love her as much as Draco! Don't do this!" Narcissa pleaded again. "Let me make this right."

Bellatrix stared at her for a moment. Then her angry expression turned into a malicious grin. "Alright then, if you insist. I could have my way with her for a little while longer after I'm done questioning. I'll show you I'd have done an even better job at raising her than you'd have." She cackled. "It should be fun really."

"No, get your hands off me," Freya cried out as she struggled against Wormtail's efforts to get her moving. "Leave me alone. You're all mad!" Wormtail flicked his wand again and levitated Freya into the air as if her limbs were attached to invisible strings.

"Be quiet, girl!" Bellatrix snarled. "I was actually planning to just kill you after questioning and be done with it. But your aunt rather sees you being part of the family, even if I end up torturing you insane. Yes, Cissy, _you _are doing this to her. Serves. You. Right." She sprayed Narcissa's face with spittle and then tramped out of the room.

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**Thanks for reading! Next chapter will probably be ready in two weeks. I'll try to upload another short story instead.**


	11. Shifting dullness

**Hi everyone. Next chapter is up. I've started a new job so I probably won't update as often, but I'll try my best.**

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She had been there for days, at least she thought. Since Wormtail had thrown her into the cellar she had only seen Bellatrix coming down regularly. After a while she had stopped questioning her about what she knew about the Order or the prophecy. Bellatrix must have realised that there was really nothing she could tell her. Though it didn't stop her from coming down and show off her skills on the Cruciatus Curse. It made her even more desperate to get out. There were no words to describe the effect of the curse, but knowing that Bellatrix would come back again was horrible in itself. Would she ever stop? Whenever Freya begged Bellatrix to stop she screamed madly and taunted her in return. It ended with Freya suffering excruciating pain until she passed out and then waking up again alone in the cold and dark. The only light came from the dimly lit hall upstairs through the barred cellar door. The cellar smelled awful, she herself smelled awful. Her clothes were all dirty and sweaty. She had peed in a corner a few times, but the signs of dehydration had become visible when she urinated just a few drops the last time. She hadn't gotten any food or water and had found only a little drip down the cellar wall. It tasted like iron and soil when she licked it and it did nothing more than keeping her mouth wet.

There were voices upstairs at times. Sometimes she hoped they would come down to get her out of the darkness or at least getting her something to drink, most of the time she dreaded what would happen if Bellatrix came back. Freya had searched the entire space in the dark on hands and feet to find something she could use. Something to use as a weapon, or to escape. The only thing she had found on the floor were two rusty nails. Big and sharp enough to hurt someone, but nowhere nearly as helpful as her wand, which was probably still safely tucked away in Bellatrix's dress. Hopeless.

Although, maybe there was an escape after all. If the choice she had was being tortured or submit to Bellatrix Lestrange, she'd rather not choose at all.

Narcissa slowly walked down the stairs. Hesitating at each step whether she would be going down further. Bellatrix had never forbidden her to go down the cellar, though it felt like defying her, as she knew exactly what Bella's plan was. According to the screams echoing through the mansion, she deducted that Bella was going down the cellar a few times a day. Though today she had not yet gone downstairs. Narcissa's curiosity got the best of her in the end, dying to know how Freya held up, but dreading in what state she would find the girl. She peeked through the bars, her eyes slowly adjusting to the dark. Then she saw Freya, lying still on the floor. The smell of sweat and urine was unbearable. Narcissa took a deep breath, assuming that inside the air would not be better. She opened the door and entered. Slowly she crouched down beside the girl and touched her ice cold cheek. For a moment she feared she was too late, but her touch startled the girl. She flinched and opened her eyes, though she was barely awake. Her expression going from mortal fear to sorrow and exhaustion when she recognized her aunt.

"I can't anymore," she whispered in a hoarse voice, clutching her skirt as Narcissa stood back up. "Please make it stop."

It was then Narcissa noticed she had rested her hand in something wet. She wiped it off on her skirt and looked where it had come from. Then she saw the little pool of blood under Freya's bare forearm. She took it in her hands, seeing it was covered in bleeding cuts. She picked up the nails lying beside her. Freya looked at her as though she got caught and inhaled once more a wheezy breath.

"Please, I want it to be over."

Narcissa took out her wand and pointed it to the spot on the arm where Freya had cut herself. "Vulnera Sanentur." She repeated the spell a few times until the bleeding stopped and the cuts were gone.

"No, let me die."

"I'm sorry." Narcissa answered with a lump in her throat. It was heart-breaking to see the girl like this, drained of any will to live. She knew it was partly her fault, but there wasn't anything she could do to help her. Letting her die was undoubtedly the way of least suffering for her, but she just couldn't do it. She knew she would regret that the rest of her life. But now what? Bella had to know. This had been Freya's limit. And it was her own limit too, she had to stand up to her sister.

After locking the door again behind her she walked over to the drawing room where Bella usually was after lunchtime, strutting around the room teasing and commanding the Malfoy house elves. Narcissa heard a loud cackle through the door, the confirmation she was indeed in there, and entered. Her sister had her back to her, hitting the house elves with spells while they were cleaning the table from lunchtime.

"Bella?"

"What?" Bellatrix went on bullying the elves undisturbed, her back still towards Narcissa.

"I went down to see Freya."

"You did what!" She snapped and turned around angrily.

"It's still my cellar, Bella, I have the right to see what's going on down there and she is not doing well at all."

"Well of course she's not," Bella laughed in her face. "Don't you think that's the intention? I went to see her this morning. Still passed out cold. I'm getting somewhere."

"She's cold and wet and dirty, she hasn't eaten in days! She's not going to last much longer if you continue like that."

"It's only been… what is it? Three, four days? What do you think Azkaban is like?"

"She's only fourteen! She is going to kill herself, Bella. She scratched her arms with nails!" Narcissa yelled, throwing the nails she brought to Bellatrix's feet. "You promised she wouldn't die!"

Bellatrix watched the nails land in front of her feet with a clinking noise. "Stupid girl," she muttered and rushed out of the room towards the cellar. "How dare she? She is not going to escape me like this."

Narcissa grabbed a leftover piece of bread from a platter on the table and followed her sister close upon her heels.

Freya tried to stand up, knowing someone would probably come back soon. But the amount of blood she had lost, combined with the lack of water since her captivity had caused her blood pressure to drop too much as she tried to stand. The light-headedness made her stagger and she leaned against a pillar to keep her balance. Then she slid down to the ground and put her head between her knees. The ringing in her ears slowly faded away after a few moments and she opened her eyes again to check if her vision was still blurred. She rested her head against the pillar and stared to the wall in front of her, feeling tired and weak.

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming down. Two people? Then Bellatrix blasted open the door and entered the cellar with Narcissa behind her.

"You!"

Freya looked back at the wall again defiantly. Screw her. She was not going to take anymore. "What about me?"

"If you think you're clever, I should probably chain you to the wall by your wrists. We don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself again, now do we?"

"No, that would be a shame indeed," Freya muttered monotonously. "Wouldn't want to smudge your immaculate clean floors in here with my filthy blood."

"It's a pity you don't enjoy your stay with us here. I can assure you that you won't be leaving anytime soon."

"We'll see about that."

Narcissa stepped forward next to Bellatrix. "Here, eat something, you'll feel bet…"

"Oh yes, how inconsiderate of me," Bellatrix interrupted. "I was indeed informed that you're very hungry." She snatched away the bread out of Narcissa's hands and held it in front of Freya.

"Eat."

"No."

"Eat!"

Freya slapped the bread out of Bellatrix's hands. It landed a few feet beside her.

"I can make you."

Freya clenched her fists in anger. Of course she could. She hadn't thought about that. Even hitting her with the Cruciatus Curse wasn't satisfactory enough for Bellatrix. She had another trick up her sleeve.

"Better yet…" Bellatrix turned to Narcissa, smiling. "You can have the honours."

Narcissa picked up the bread and handed it to her. "Freya, eat it."

She found that even Narcissa sounded harsh now, but still desperate. Why did she want her to live so badly? Freya took the bread from her and threw it aside again. "Go to hell. Both of you."

Bellatrix put her hands on her hips impatiently and glared at her sister, who finally took out her wand.

"Imperio."

As soon as the word was spoken, a strange sensation arose inside Freya. She felt suddenly strong again physically, yet as if her muscles were controlled by someone else. She tried to fight it and stay seated, but her legs and arms had something else in mind. She crawled to the bread on the floor and picked it up. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she tried to blink them away as she took a bite from the bread, realizing that starving herself to death was not going to work either. Though she was incredibly hungry, and the fresh bread tasted so good, which felt even more humiliating.

Narcissa lifted the curse as soon as she had swallowed the last bite. Freya got on her feet, wiping the crumbs from the corner of her mouth and glared at Narcissa.

"I hate you! You ruined my life! You say you love me, but it's all an act. You're no better than her!" Freya yelled and pointed at Bellatrix. "Why do you let her torture me? Look at me!" She screamed at Narcissa when she had dropped her eyes. "You could have just let me die instead! Why won't you let me die?"

"I can't lose you again. I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Don't you dare say _sorry_! You could have taken me in! You chose to leave me with people you hate, because it was easier for you. And now I have to suffer for it? You are the most selfish person there could ever be!"

Narcissa stood transfixed to the ground, shocked by her outburst and they both looked at Bellatrix, who had suddenly cried out in sardonic laughter.

"Not so beloved now, are you, Cissy? Now leave. I'm going to have a little talk with her."

Narcissa turned and left, silently ascending the stairs. Some part of Freya wanted her to stay, or at least, not leave her alone with Bellatrix. That hadn't been good news the last few days. She tried to sound brave and convincing, hoping she could show her she wasn't scared.

"You can leave too. Whatever you have to say, I will never be on your side. Curse me all you want."

"Maybe later, if I have to." Bellatrix stepped in front of Freya, uncomfortably close in her face, and narrowed her eyes. "Do you know why they hate us, girl?"

Freya swallowed, still frightened to look in the dark angry eyes. At least it looked like she would be spared for a few minutes if she answered.

"Because your feel superior to anyone who isn't a pureblood. You think you're better than them."

"And what's so different from what _they_ think? Those traitors think they're better than _us_. Being accepting of everyone, like we're equals." Bellatrix stepped backwards and threw her hands in the air. "Then why do we have to be secretive about magic? Hiding who we are? We _are _different from Muggles. Those protecting them think they're all saints."

"You hurt innocent people."

Bellatrix put her hands on her hips. "And they don't? Look at you. You were just a baby. Can you imagine anything more innocent that that? Yet they took you from your family and gave you to the people I'd rather see dead!" Bellatrix started pacing up and down. "The dementors stole every memory I had of you. Only my devotion, my love for the Dark Lord survived. Nearly going insane. We were driven apart by them. How is that not hurting?"

This was unbelievable. Did she really think _she_ was a victim? "Then why are you hurting me? Like you care about those memories. A 'little pest' you called me! You never loved me and you never will. And you know it."

Bellatrix came up to her again. "I went to Azkaban because I was willing to sacrifice everything to the one I love most. So indeed, I may never love _you_, but at least I'm honest."

"Honest?" Freya snorted. "Do you even hear yourself? You're completely insane. I will never become one of you." She tried to back away from Bellatrix, but she grabbed her arm.

"I'm not asking you to become a Death Eater, girl. I'm not tormenting Cissy in her own cellar for not being one. Though we should for what she did to us," she added through gritted teeth. "I'm merely making you see you have to stand up for yourself and that you have the right to pay back everyone that hurt you."

"Does that include you?"

"I had to hurt you for you to see, don't you understand? _They_ did this to you."

Freya wrenched herself loose. "You said I deserved to be killed! So, no, I don't understand."

Bellatrix crossed her arms, looking rather irritated. "You still want me to kill you, do you? You really start to annoy me."

"Better than to stay here any longer." She slid down the column in the middle of the cellar again.

"I wanted to punish Narcissa. And so should you. You wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for her. And Andromeda. And whoever else who knew about us. You were betrayed. They are scared of what you're able to." Bellatrix took a few steps back and looked at her for a moment, taking her up. "I have seen you duelling in the Ministry. You show so much potential. I could teach you. Show them you are not to be messed with. Show them they made a mistake by having you under their thumb with their lies. I know you're hurt and angry, but use your anger against them now."

"And now you want to teach me? A blood traitor?" Freya almost laughed in disbelief. Could this woman be more ridiculous?

"I'm just giving you the choice. That's everything you want, right? To choose who you want to be. Without coercion."

"Choose without coercion? Like I'm going to walk out of here alive if I choose to fight against you. You'd kill me in a second."

"That's right, I would," Bellatrix replied promptly. "And apparently I would do you a favour with that. Can't blame you for trying though. It's even smells of death in here. But if you'd still want to kill yourself you'd have better chances outside of this stinky cellar anyway."

Freya frowned. What a weird woman she was. Whatever benefit Bellatrix got out of this - naturally there was - it wasn't her affair if she was truly given a free choice. She definitely didn't want to hurt random Muggles or any other innocent person. First she had to see it before she'd believe it. But what could it hurt to try and see? She wouldn't be worse off than she was now.

"So take a pick now, girl. Or do you want another round of the Cruciatus?"

Maybe Bellatrix was right. She wouldn't be seen as a traitor if Narcissa had raised her. If Andromeda and Ted had told her earlier, she wouldn't have been feeling so let down and abandoned. She got on her feet as Bellatrix turned away from her. "No, wait." It was actually the perfect way to punish her parents. Turn to the dark side, or at least pretending, if it was really up to her how far she'd go. At least she would get out of this hellhole.

"You're right," Freya said finally, and felt her doubts change into determination as if she required confirmation by speaking out loud. "It _is_ time to think of myself for once."

Bellatrix showed her a satisfied smile. She turned around again and headed for the stairs, leaving the cellar door open.

"Follow me."

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**Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.**


	12. Spotless

**Took me a little while, but here's a new one. Enjoy!**

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Bellatrix led Freya through the corridor of the second floor. It was a struggle to keep up with her steadfast pace while her own legs felt like pudding. They came to a halt at one of the oak wood doors. Bellatrix flicked her wand and the door swung open, creaking loudly.

"Get in." She pointed her long-nailed finger inside. Freya walked past her and without saying anything else, Bellatrix closed the door behind her again. Freya went over to sit on the edge of the four poster bed and heard the sound of Bellatrix's heels in de corridor fade away. She looked around the room. It was big, with huge windows that let in the light of the summer sun through the open curtains. The warmth of the sun beams on her skin made her shiver and she realised how cold she had been. It smelled damp and dusty inside the room, but it was a whole lot better than what the cellar had done. She let herself fall down backwards on the matrass.

When the door opened again Freya realised she had dozed off for a while. When she sat back up she saw Narcissa had come in. She held a set of clothes in her arms and lay them down on one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace.

Narcissa cleared her throat nervously. "I've brought you some clean clothes. It's an old dress of mine, I think it'll fit you. And you can take a bath or..." She pointed towards a door that would probably lead into an on suite bathroom.

"I don't want anything from you."

"Maybe you should get some sleep."

"You should stop assuming you know what's best for me, Narcissa." Freya let herself fall back on the matrass again. "I think you better leave now."

"Dinner is at seven." Narcissa headed for the door again, but turned around on the threshold.

"Bye," Freya said. Was she really waiting for a response?

"Bellatrix demands your presence," Narcissa added before she closed the door.

Freya immediately got up again. A bath. That was exactly what she needed now. She entered through the door Narcissa had shown her and stepped on the tiled floor. She turned on the tap of the elegant clawfoot bath tub and searched the cabinets for soap and towels. She placed everything she found on a stool beside the tub and started to undress. She put her dirty clothes in the sink and filled it with water to let them soak. She jumped when she looked up and a pair of hollow eyes staring back at her from the mirror above the sink. She barely recognized herself in there, bags under her eyes, hair like a birds nest. She couldn't deny she resembled Bellatrix on the poster from Azkaban and desired even more to wash her dirty grey face.

Shivering she stepped into the hot water and sat down, taking the bar of soap in her hands. It was old and hard and had deep cracks in it, but it still smelled of something flowery. Freya dipped the bar into the water and rubbed it between her hands until they were lathered with foam. She washed the dirt off her skin, getting rid of the smell of sweat and urine, and submerged her head to make her hair wet.

When she felt clean she rested her back against the side and enjoyed the hot water, feeling the cold leave her body. She really could fall asleep like this. She fumbled her hair to find the rubber band that was somewhere stuck in there, encircling now less than half of her messy bush that had once been a ponytail. She tried to untangle some knots with her fingers and hoped she could find a hairbrush somewhere later.

Freya got out of the tub and took a towel from the stool. She dried herself with it and wrapped it around her when she moved back to the bedroom. The air had reached a comfortable temperature from the fire. Then she closed the heavy velvet curtains and climbed into bed.

Freya woke up again by someone tugging at the corner of the wool bedding. She woke up to a pair of big friendly eyes. She realised she had never actually seen a house elf before.

"Mistress Malfoy told Tilly to wake up Miss Freya. Miss Freya is requested in the dining room in ten minutes."

Freya rubbed her eyes and sat up straight as Tilly disappeared into the bathroom. How long had she been sleeping? Still yawning she got up and noticed that the room was a lot cleaner than it had been. The clothes Narcissa had laid down for her were still on the armchair. She did not want to wear them, but her own clothes were dirty and probably ripe for the rubbish bin. Maybe she could ask that house-elf to take care of them. Freya stepped out of bed and tried on the dress. It was a blue and quite plain dress which fell just below her knees. She buttoned the sleeveless top in the front. She decided to put on her own sneakers though. The pair of loafers Narcissa had left looked three sizes too big so wouldn't stay on her feet anyway.

Freya looked down at the house elf who had opened the curtains with a flick of her long fingers and was now straightening the bed sheets.

"It's Tilly, am I right?"

"Miss Freya is right. I is called Tilly, Miss."

"Could you maybe bring me to the dining room?"

The elf nodded and moments later Freya followed her down the hall to the staircase. She wasn't sure if she had come this way up or had been too exhausted to notice before, but the entire staircase was hanged with portraits. Mostly Malfoys, she noticed. Probably ancestors. There was something discomforting about it when she walked passed them. The way they all followed her with her eyes and didn't speak. She swore she could hear them whisper behind her back. At last they reached the hall. Her heart rate went up as she looked at the middle of the stone floor. She could almost feel the pain rising up again. She forced herself to look elsewhere and walked over to the double doors where Tilly stood waiting.

"Tilly is not allowed inside when Mistresses are dining. Only when Tilly is called to clean up afterwards."

Freya nodded and opened the door just enough to slip through. Bellatrix and Narcissa were already seated at the table. They both smiled. Narcissa gave an insecure, sort of encouraging smile, while Bellatrix grinned widely, apparently feeling smug she had made her come down for dinner without any more bother. Even from feet away she could see her teeth had lacked some care over the years. Freya moved towards the dining table and as soon as she sat down a bowl of tomato soup appeared in front of her.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed both Bellatrix and Narcissa watching her, while she gazed at her soup. They probably wondered if she was going to eat by herself this time. The piece of bread she ate unwillingly earlier today still lay heavily on her stomach, but she figured refusing the soup would be a bad idea. It wasn't worth making a scene as they would undoubtedly use the Imperius Curse again.

"Bon appetit," Freya said as she brought a spoonful of soup to her mouth. Both women seemed satisfied as they too started eating.

It tasted wonderful. The salty, rich fluid filled her stomach, but after the bowl she didn't think she had space left for the following course. She was the last to have finished the soup. Bellatrix had devoured two bowls. Then the table filled with fresh dishes. The two women filled their plate with green beans and potatoes.

"You can't be done yet." Narcissa looked at her empty plate scooped up some potatoes for her.

She prodded the baby potatoes on her plate with her fork before putting it down again. "My stomach is upset."

"Try some."

"I'm full." Freya crossed her arms over her chest. "I haven't eaten for days. You can't expect me to have a normal appetite."

"Yeah, quit your whining, Cissy," Bellatrix said with her mouth full. She swallowed. "Get a grip. You're not her mother. Only a few days before you can start pampering Draco again."

Narcissa gave her sister a dark glare, but kept her mouth shut.

The awkward tension between them lasted for the rest of the dinner. The only one who didn't notice it was Bellatrix, or she just didn't care. She picked another piece of lamb chop from the dish with her fingers and tore a piece of flesh from the bone with her bad set of teeth. She ate like a horse, compensating for her years in Azkaban, which left her emaciated. Her table manners were something she lost there too, the way Narcissa kept looking at her disapprovingly. She put her cutlery down and dabbed her mouth with her napkin.

"So… How has your year been, Freya?"

Freya hadn't looked her aunt in the eyes on purpose. Using the silent treatment because she didn't know what to say or how to act around her anyway, but this remark was shocking her too much that she failed to ignore her this time.

"How has my year been? Really?" She rolled her eyes as Narcissa kept looking at her inquiringly. "How about awful? They all probably think I'm dead."

"We'll clear that misunderstanding up soon enough."

"Naaah…. Don't do that yet." Bellatrix frowned. "Unless Wormtail has been spreading the word around. Stupid idiot, I'm going to kill him." She got up at once. "Where is he?"

Narcisssa ignored her sister yelling for the man to come upstairs immediately and put down her cutlery. "Bella got a letter asking about you, Freya. The day before yesterday."

Freya didn't reply, although she was kind of curious who had tried to contact her. Maybe in the hopes to get a proof of life. An owl could find someone without an address if there hadn't been Charms placed on her presence in this house. She tried to listen to Bellatrix telling off Wormtail, but more than her harsh voice threats and Wormtail whimpering on the other side of the door she couldn't make out. Shortly after Bellatrix came back into the dining room with a satisfied smile on her face. "All fixed. He'll keep quiet."

Freya wondered what he was doing at the Malfoys, but decided not to ask. What if they were planning something, then it might be best if she didn't know. They would probably tell her to mind her own business anyway.

Bellatrix sat down again. "At least he is smart enough to know we don't want a rescue party here to save you."

Was that what they were doing? Was the Order of the Phoenix trying to find her? Maybe even the Ministry. The Malfoy place seemed like an obvious place to look. If they didn't think she was already dead. Though Bellatrix would be in danger of being arrested again if Aurors knew they were both here. Wouldn't that be the ideal outcome? Bellatrix back in Azkaban. Though she couldn't go home herself. Surely she could stay at Luna's place for the rest of the summer. Or at Julie's, if she'd forgive her for being such a lousy friend the last months. It was worth a try.

"Maybe I should tell everyone I don't want to be saved. That I'm fine where I am."

Bellatrix leaned back in her chair and looked at Freya while chewing her lip.

"I just said that a letter arrived yesterday," Narcissa tried again.

"Yeah, that's right." Bellatrix was still looking at her intensely. "That filthy half-blood calling herself your sister dared to write to me."

Freya thought for a moment how to react. They probably expected her to be curious about what she had written. And she was. But was it a bad thing? "So… did you read it?"

"I did." Bellatrix said now crossing her arms.

"Oh." Freya nodded. She didn't know what to reply.

Narcissa slightly leaned forward. "Don't you wanna know..?"

"Not really." She looked back at Bellatrix, who had kept her eyes on her all this time. Freya took a deep breath. "Well, maybe. I can imagine that she wants to know where you had taken me to. And if I'm alive she'd be begging you to let me go. But that's what I mean. I can write back telling them I don't want to go back."

"I might even let you do that later," Bellatrix said. "Now we put the Fidelius Charm on this manor, we can be sure this place won't be raided."

Freya cursed inside. So even if it got out she was here with them, they still wouldn't be able to find her. She was on her own. "Alright," she said. "Later."

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**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it!**


	13. The Ultimatum

**Hi again, here's a new chapter. Please enjoy!**

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Bellatrix paced up and down the dining room. He could come now any second. He would come to demand an explanation. Their failure at the Department of Mysteries was almost a week ago. It was not her fault, surely he would see that. She had killed one, captured one. And she was the only one who had been able to escape. Not Lucius, not Rodolphus. They had been sent back to Azkaban, along with everybody else. But not her.

So she was to handle this on her own. This… situation. And Rodolphus was the one that burdened her with that child in the first place. She couldn't remember ever wanting one. Of course, to pass on her pure blood genes, alright. But first having to care for it, nurse it. It was not her cup of tea. The Dark Lord was the only one that really mattered, the only one worth of her time.

Bellatrix stopped in front of the long dining table and placed her hands on the backrest of the chair at the head. He always sat here. With her long fingers she tenderly caressed the carved ornaments. She sniffed the air, hoping to detect any remnants of his scent that left his body when they sat here preparing for the intrusion at the Ministry.

But what would she tell him? Naturally she could not keep this from him, he would surely kill her when he'd find out himself. Killing the girl would have made it so much easier, but of course Cissy's motherly instincts had to interfere. Bellatrix now clenched her fingers around the wooden chair. It was about time her sister learned that love is weakness. It had felt great to torture the girl under Cissy's eyes. Punishing them both at the same time.

But her pride was standing in the way of disposing of the girl as well. It was all too humiliating to admit the girl was a traitor, her own flesh and blood! It felt like admitting she was a failure herself. Surely she could do better than the Malfoys would have done if they had taken her? Laughable to see how faint hearted Draco turned out. What use could that boy be as a Death Eater? If there was one person that had failed the Dark Lord it was Lucius. The coward. She, on the other hand, proudly went to Azkaban for him all those years ago. What had happened to the girl after that had surely not been her responsibility. She didn't deserve to be punished. So presenting the Dark Lord with a new recruit, a potential valuable one, would get her in his good graces again. She'd always had a talent for manipulating people into doing what she wanted. She had the girl turned against those traitors now, it was only a matter of time before she'd make her perform some Dark Arts. If only she could convince the Dark Lord of that.

She heard a door open and saw her sister coming in. "Bella, can I talk to you…"

"No, Cissy, wait outside!" Bellatrix let go of the chair and walked towards her. "The Dark Lord is coming. If he wishes to speak to anyone else, you'll hear it. Now go!" She drew her wand and at the same time they both turned to where they heard a soft popping sound. Lord Voldemort had appeared in the dining room, his snake Nagini by his side.

"Bella," he spoke. "And Narcissa."

"My Lord." Bellatrix gave a short nod with her head. Narcissa did she same.

"Arrived safely in your sister's comfortable home, I see? I can understand why you were in a hurry to get back here."

Surely he did not imply she had cowardly flown from the Ministry? What was the point of staying any longer? The prophecy was lost. "I'm at your service always, my Lord."

"It disappoints me greatly to see that from the dozen men to whom I've given a simple task to perform, you're the only one who has evaded the grasp of the Ministry Officials."

"I won't let myself get caught again, my Lord."

"But you weren't able to eliminate them either."

Of course he expected great things from her. To kill them all. She was the best, his most loyal. But there were so many of them. She could not have taken the risk. "I killed one of them, my Lord. The blood traitor Black."

"What is one insignificant death going to help me? I needed that prophecy. You incompetent fools! A few children got the better of you and sent nearly all of you to Azkaban. Is this how you show me your gratitude for breaking you out of Azkaban prison?"

She saw Narcissa taking a little step back as he started pacing around the dining room. Those stupid children indeed. So easily lured into the Department of Mysteries, so naïve. They had been way too lucky for her liking. Except for one.

"At least you were able to take someone prisoner, Bella. Did she tell you something useful? Or has she perished under your furious temper?"

"No, My Lord. The girl happened to be my daughter. Stolen by the Tonkses after my arrest," she said grimly. She hadn't exactly been useful, but that was only a matter of time. "I didn't know, I never would've allowed, I…" She stopped talking as Voldemort had come to a halt, Nagini still slithering around him.

"A daughter?" Fighting against me? And you've not wrecked her?" He said quietly. "Have you grown soft, Bella?"

"No!" Her voice turned to a higher pitch and cracked. "I was prepared to kill the girl." Bellatrix clenched her fists. He couldn't possibly think that she had become emotionally attached. The idea. "It was Narcissa's wish not to do that, she has the soft spot for her. I just wanted some fun and see how far I can push the girl."

Voldemort turned around to gaze at Narcissa, who bowed her head and didn't speak. Bellatrix looked at the both of them. She'd never been able to read him really. Was he angry, what was he thinking? After a moment he directed his attention to Bella again. "Push her towards what?"

"To our side, of course." Bellatrix raised her chest. He seemed to be open for the possibility not to get rid of her at once. "I've just managed to turn her against the Tonkses. She said she rather stays here than go back to them."

"And she cracked in but a few days. Your manipulative skills amuse me, Bella. Your own daughter. But it must have done her well." He stepped in front of Bellatrix. "I wish to see her."

Bellatrix felt her heart rate rise. The Dark Lord always managed to excite her when praising her like that. However, she had to choose her words wisely. She never went against his orders. "She's not yet ready, my Lord. Not ready to follow you. She's only… contemplating our ideals."

"Contemplating our ideals? How useful," he mocked. "Does this mean she's just a liability to us? Ready to snitch whenever she sets foot out of this mansion? I don't need another one like Wormtail that needs babysitting to prevent him running back like a coward on the first chance he gets. Where is that fool? Perhaps Severus must be the one to keep an eye on him."

"My Lord, I agree." Wormtail out of the way would be a treat. That good for nothing wizard only was a bother. But he seemed to have lost interest in the girl. "But if you'll allow me, My Lord, I'm sure we can use her. She has told me everything she knows already. I know it was all. I used Legilimency."

"Anything useful?"

"Not anything she is able to tell us. But she might manage to get some other information back to us. If I could be granted only a little bit more time with her. Get her to see our ways."

Voldemort stared at her blankly for a moment.

"Very well," he said finally.

Bellatrix's heart leapt. If all played out how she wanted, it would probably be her greatest achievement yet. Her reputation would become unbreakable.

"I'll allow you to start tutoring her," Voldemort continued. "And in the slightest possibility she'll ever leave this place alive and sane, you might want to teach her some Occlumency." He sniffed. "To prevent anyone else delving into her mind. And have Lucius's boy learn some just in case. He's an even worse replacement than Lucius himself. But we always need people to sacrifice."

Bella's lip curled. Every insult from her Lord towards Lucius was a victory to her. She looked sideways at her sister. Narcissa hadn't moved an inch, but now looked back at her with her eyes widened. Oh come on, it couldn't be a surprise anymore that the Dark Lord didn't think much of the Malfoy men.

"But the same goes for that girl, Bella. Next meeting you will present her to me." Voldemort raised his arm to summon Nagini back to his side and then continued. "If by then she's not satisfactory to me, you'll dispose of her at once. I don't want you wasting your time. Especially if you're doing this just for the fun of teaching your sister a lesson."

"As you wish, my Lord."

"Don't fail me again, Bella. That girl is not the only one who's going to feel it if you do." With those words he disappeared as sudden as he had come.

* * *

The house was almost empty this afternoon. Narcissa had just left to pick up Draco from King's Cross Station. Freya roamed around the house, feeling quite bored. Out of curiosity she had tried some doors of the other rooms in the corridor, but almost everything was locked. Without a wand there wasn't much to explore. So she went downstairs to look for the kitchens, getting something to eat. At last she ended up in the hallway, where one of the house elves was dusting off one of the ceiling high curtains. He should be able to tell her the way to the kitchens.

"Excuse me. Could you…" she began, but changed her mind midsentence. If Bellatrix could command the Malfoy house elves, maybe she was able too.

"Could you open the front door for me?"

The house elf looked up at Freya. "Mistress Lestrange has instructed Rollo not to serve Miss Freya. Mistress Lestrange has instructed Rollo to inform Mistress Lestrange at once when Miss Freya expresses a wish to leave." He flicked his fingers and disapparated with his feather duster.

Barely five seconds later Bellatrix appeared at the top of the stairs and made her way down.

"Trying to escape, are you? I thought you might."

Like mother, like daughter, apparently, Freya thought. But she felt her heart starting to pound again when she saw Bellatrix had taken out her wand. She swallowed. Would she regret asking the House-elf to open a door for her?

Bellatrix stepped in front of her and pointed her wand at her. "Don't you appreciate your room? The cellar is always available again."

"I just wanted to see some sunlight," Freya stammered. "I haven't seen a lot lately, maybe it'll cheer me up. This dark place is not doing wonders for my mood in any case."

"Hmm." Bellatrix crossed her arms. "You could have asked me. I would've said yes."

Freya crossed her arms in return. It was hard to learn what Bellatrix expected of her. She hadn't hurt her since she was last down in the cellar. It seemed like she had a reason not to, as normally she would do it for fun. But then what was she here for? "Would you? You don't trust me. You have house elves checking on me."

"Of course I don't trust you. You tried to kill yourself only a few days ago. If I find you dead somewhere, I've wasted all that time for nothing."

"True," Freya acknowledged. "But I'm still alive." She said matter-of-factly. Death seemed like an everyday subject to talk about with Bellatrix.

"Also true," Bellatrix echoed. "Doesn't mean you don't want to leave."

Freya was getting impatient. How did Narcissa put up with her all these months? "Then tell me what I am doing here. What do I need to do for you to trust me? I just want to do something. Anything."

Bellatrix flicked her wand and the door to the garden swept open. "You have to trust _me_." She stepped outside and turned around, gesturing for Freya to follow. "You can come outside if you want to join me. Your choice."

Freya felt a summer breeze in her face and closed her eyes. It was tempting. She wanted to go into the garden, if it wasn't for Bellatrix. It wouldn't be relaxing at all. There was definitely something she wanted from her, but if she would leave her in peace why not just play along for the moment? What could it hurt?

* * *

**Till next time. Thanks for reading!**


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